Angelic Prisoner
by Missy the Cat
Summary: Amelia 'Amy' Rose was a beautiful rosy pink hedgehog girl who was the shy and naïve daughter of a proud and wealthy Rose family. For some reason, Amy agreed to go prison for a year to protect her family. Only Amy didn't know that it would be at Prison Island for Men! Little did Amy know that she would capture the heart of the most dangerous and strongest prisoner, Shadow Robotnik.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1.

Please Review.

No Flames.

I wrote this story after reading Prison Island Break by Breech Loader and SonicFrank and Prison Island Break: Season 2 by Breech Loader as they were great stories, but sadly SonicFrank quit fanfiction and in Season 2 we didn't see how the story ended. Instead we were only told by Breech Loader how the story would end and the story was deleted for it to be a real book but no one knows where it's being published or it's even true. All of us who followed the stories dreaming of the characters fates and who ended up with who and why end it that way. After awhile, I started to think a prison story of my own.

* * *

Shadow Robotnik is a 24 year old muscular jet black hedgehog with red stripes on his quills, around the edges of his eyes, and on his arms and legs, has crimson-red eyes, a patch of white fur on his chest, and his muzzle is tan, has 6 quills on his head, 4 on the sides which curve upwards and 2 in the middle that curve downwards, 2 spines on his back, and a small tail, and wears black cuffs and red tongues, and air shoes which, have black cuffs and orange-red tongues, on each of his wrists and ankles, a single gold rings on each wrist.

Amelia 'Amy' Rose is a 18 year old curvy rosy pink-quilled hedgehog female with jade-green eyes, peach skin on her muzzle and arms, straight but slightly wavy quills that reached a knee length, bangs, and a short tail, and wearing red and white sneakers (Sonic Riders's one).

Mephiles the Hedgehog is a 39 year old dark grey hedgehog, greyish-blue streaks, green eyes with slit pupils, a pale-skinned muzzle, and in his usual outfit, black cuffs on his wrists, long sleeved dark brown shirt, long black pants, and brown boots.

Jules Robotnik was an 43 year old hedgehog with dark blue quills and some grey quills and emerald green eyes, and in his usual outfit, long khaki pants, a long sleeved yellow dress shirt, white gloves, and brick-red shoes with three yellow straps.

Maria Robotnik was an 41 year old blonde fur hedgehog with shoulder length quills, and dark blue eyes, pink lips and in her usual outfit, a blue headband, a dark blue top with short puffy sleeves and light blue endings, a light blue dress, and slipper-like cobalt shoes with low heels.

Rouge the Bat is a 24 year old white furred female bat, teal-green eyes, tan skin color, large pointy ears, small fangs, a bare muzzle with a small black nose, a short tail, and a pair of black wings on her back, and in her usual outfit, blue eyeshadow, pink lipstick, long sleeved hot pink shirt with a large black heart at the center, 3/4 black pants, high heeled knee-high black boots with pink cuffs and heart tips, white lab coat.

Avery the Bear is a 40 year old brown bear male that was chubby with royal blue eyes, and one of his lower teeth sticking out, and a yellow bandanna wrapped around his neck, fingerless black gloves, and black boots.

Vector the Crocodile is a 32 year old large, green-skinned crocodile male with spiky red scales down his tail and goldenrod-colored eyes, sports a thick body that resembles that of an S-shape, with a broad upper body starts including his long arms, getting slimmer towards his tail and legs, his belly, snout and arms are light green, while the rest of his body is dark green, and has black-and-orange cuffs, embellished with gold buckles as well as black shoes figured with white and orange colors.

Knuckles the Echidna is a 25 year old echidna with red fur that covers most of his body, peach skin on his muzzle, a white crescent-shaped patch of fur on his chest, purple eyes, 7 dreadlock-like spines on his head and a medium-sized tail, and has red and yellow shoes, each with green cuffs and a grey, sextuple-bolted plate on top, white, mitten-like gloves with sock-like cuffs and 2 spiked knuckles on each hand.

Harold Rose is a 45 year old white hedgehog, jade green eyes, and in his casual outfit, a long sleeved white dress shirt, long black pants, and dark brown shoes and usual outfit, a black suit with a light blue dress shirt

Lily Rose is a 44 year old dark red hedgehog female, shoulder length quills, sky blue eyes and in her usual outfit, a knee length spring green dress, a blue heart necklace, and lavender low heeled shoes.

Zinnia Rose is a 23 year old scarlet red hedgehog female, back length quills, sky blue eyes, and in her usual outfit, a short sleeved dark green shirt, light blue jeans, and white high heels.

Scourge the Hedgehog is an 24 year old green fur colored hedgehog, has a pair of slash marks on his torso, sky blue eye color, and in his usual outfit, a long sleeved black leather jacket, a short sleeved white shirt, a long blue jeans, and black and green leather boots.

Manik the Hedgehog was an 8 year old sky blue hedgehog, dark blue eyes, and in his usual outfit, a short sleeved white shirt, green shorts, and red and white shoes.

Erazor Djinn is a 45 year old very muscular human male with pink skin, red eyes with black sclera, waist length cardinal hair that is in a upward ponytail and in his usual outfit, a white dress shirt, a black suit, black tie, and black shoes.

Dingo is a 35 year old large, orange-brown muscular dingo with green eyes and yellow hair, and wears green shorts, purple glasses, brown gloves, a brown belt with a silver buckle, and a gold earring.

Falke Wulf is a 25 wear old wolf who has dark blue fur, blue eyes, tan skin, red nose and in his gloves and shoes are navy and mustard yellow.

Bark the Polar Bear is a 25 year old light beige polar bear with reddish-tan skin, white chest fur, ruby red eyes, and wears brown-toed red boots.

Miles 'Tails' Prower is a 25 year old yellow-orange fox with 2 twin tails, white fur around his muzzle, front torso, and the tips of his tails, baby blue eyes, triangular ears with white canals and three locks of hair on his forehead, and wears shoes that are red from the heel to the middle, and white from the middle to the toe with gray soles.

Drago is a 32 year old large white wolf, yellow eyes with black slits, and wears dark blue boots.

Mighty the Armadillo is a 25 year old black armadillo male with red thick armor, which rounds from his forehead above to his lower back, his tail is black, ears are side facing and funnel-shaped, a medium-long and sharp black nose, yellowish-tan skin color, along with his ears, muzzle, arms and stomach, reddish-brown eyes, and wears red shoes with white straps and white cuffs.

Mrs. Ginger Dog is a 56 year old wisteria female dog with peach skin, powder blue eyes, long black eyes, her shoulder length hair tied in a bun, and wears a short sleeved light grey shirt, hair-net, a knee length light grey skirt, round glasses, and light grey shoes.

Sleet is a 32 year old grey wolf male with blue fur, orange eyes, and wears dark red boots.

Paulie is a 29 year old light blue hedgehog with peach skin, dark blue eyes, and wears red boots.

Remington the Echidna is a 34 year old brown echidna male with savoy blue eyes, black hair, and wears blue boots.

Flare the Hedgehog is a 24 year old bright red hedgehog with chocolate eyes, spiky quills and bangs, and in his usual outfit, a short sleeved dark green shirt, long light blue pants, and red shoes.

Judge Peter Owl is a 61 year old brown owl with amber eyes, and wears a grey tuxedo with a black tie, black shoes, and glasses.

Augustus the Polar Bear is a 36 year old muscular white polar bear with ice blue eyes, and wears dark blue shoes.

Bearenger the Grizzly is a 39 year old brown grizzly bear with white chest fur, light brown skin, apple red eyes, and wears red, blue, and white shoes.

...

Prison Officer Uniforms: a short sleeved black shirt with a few bandages on it, black slacks, black or dark brown shoes, black or dark brown belts, walkie talkie, baton, handcuffs, and taser.

Prison Inmate Uniforms: orange jumpsuits, multiple undershirts and different kinds of boots and shoes.

...

Station Square.

Court.

Day Time.

Amy, in a short sleeved ruby red dress that reached her knees, ruby red shoes, and a rose gold pendent necklace, kept her eyes focused on her fiddling fingers, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone. Amy was hardly even paying attention to what the judge was saying, despite it probably being very important.

The heated stares could be felt from where Amy was standing and every camera only added thousands more. Being one of the daughters of the owner of Rose Corporation, it was no surprise the arrest caught attention from the media.

The incident was a shock for all that had heard about it and proceeded to paparazzi following the family to catch a glimpse of the ethereal beauty. Never was it heard of Amy to do anything seen as bad, having usually being out of the public eye and inside reading her books. So, it was more than a surprise to hear of the quiet angel breaking the law. Everyone was anxious to know the verdict, eager to find out what the sentence was for the rosy pink hedgehog girl.

"Miss Amelia Rose, you are found guilty for theft and assault of a police officer. Sentenced for 12 months in prison." Judge Peter said, holding a dark brown gavel in his right hand.

The loud bang of the gavel rang in her ears, signally the finality of Amy's ruined future. Amy's jade green eyes rimmed with tears as her legs trembled, only half covered by her favorite ruby red dress.

A large right hand grabbed Amy's left arm and pulled her rather aggressively out of the small box she was held in during the trial. Amy looked up at the officer to see an orange male, who looked to be in his mid 30s with the dark blue police uniform, staring straight ahead with an emotionless expression as they walked. That had most likely done this all the time and didn't care about whether the person was rightly prosecuted or not, Amy doubted whether he was even listening.

"Wait here. Your family will come and you'll have a few minutes to say your goodbyes." the tiger male said in a tone as if he had recited the line many times before.

Amy was left in the middle of a small room with a little dark grey sofa in the corner of it and she assumed it was for decoration as were the many paintings that littered the cream colored walls. Despite the room being tiny, Amy felt like it was gigantic and she was a mere bug and she found herself cowering away from everything, not wanting to move, afraid of doing something wrong to get her into more trouble than she already was.

The door unlocked and the turning of the knob followed. Her family, her father, Harold, her mother, Lily, and her older sister, Zinnia made their way in wearing their designer outfits. They, as usual, looked immaculate and Amy couldn't help but notice the lack of tears. Amy was expecting sadder expressions than the mere sympathetic and awkward ones she received.

"Oh dear." Harold said, hugging Amy's petite frame against his own larger one with both hands.

It was like Amy finally allowed herself to fall apart as the tears flowed down her cheeks and sobs racked her body.

"D-daddy." Amy said, hiccuping into her father's previously crisp clean suit. "I don't want to do this. I don't want to go to p-prison."

"Amy, darling. You have to." Lily said.

Amy turned to the right side towards her mother, who placed her left hand on her head and stroked her quills gently.

"Think of our family." Lily said insisting, her expression hardly showing through the layers of make up and botox on her face.

"B-but, I d-didn't even d-do anything." Amy said crying helplessly as she looked back and forth between her mother and father.

Amy hoped that her parents would be able to get her out of this and things could go back to normal. If it wasn't for the current situation Amy was in, she would've been laying in bed, watching TV shows all day and eating all the snacks she could find. Instead, Amy found herself in court and going to prison.

"Hey! Don't be so selfish Amy! It's either you or me and you know I won't survive in that place but you can because you're so brave and strong. Don't you want to be a good little sister?" Zinnia questioned softly to coax Amy into giving in.

Zinnia then forced a smile on her face, though Amy just hoped it was a real one. Zinnia was never really nice to Amy so a smile directed in her direction lit Amy's face up.

"I'm really sorry about not being so nice to you. You know I love you right?" Zinnia asked.

"I love you too Zinnia." Amy said with a small smile.

Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, Amy finally agreed.

"I'll do it. I'll go to prison." Amy said.

Harold, Lily, and Zinnia let out a breath of relief and all said how proud they were of Amy and they gave her kisses and hugs until the time came for the guard to take her away.

...

2 hours later.

Ocean.

Prison Island.

Prison Island, a large super-maximum security prison jungle island that is holding prisoners on the ocean, has several facilities, a port for military vessels and an armory within the jungle.

Amy's rosy pink quills fell down her back in shiny straight waves, covering the back of the bright orange jumpsuit she was forced into. The metal cuffs were cold around Amy's wrists and the chilly air made her shiver. Amy's uniform was several sizes too big for her so she turned the long sleeves into mittens, covering as much of her quills, fur, and skin as she could past the cuffs. The pant legs were folded loosely but luckily Amy's white trainers fit perfectly on her size 3 feet.

Amy spent most of the journey to the prison asleep, wanting nothing more than to wake up and realize it was all a terrible nightmare. Amy was occasionally woken by the driver's bad driving and the boat shaking and the numerous bumps in the road. The 3 animal prison officers in the car with Amy conversed amongst themselves so she stayed quiet to avoid getting into trouble.

One of them, Bark the Polar Bear, was the friendliest out of all of them as he had seen how terrified the little girl was and tried to make small talk. Amy suspected that Bark took pity on her because he had a daughter around her age. Bark told Amy it was going to be her birthday soon and he had no idea what he was going to get her so he asked Amy for advice.

"Stop talking to the criminal Bark." another polar bear male said, scolding Bark from the front seat of the car. "She's not your daughter and she's not innocent." he added quieter.

Bark turned to Amy and pulled faces, silently mocking the unknown polar bear male. Amy giggled and but then looked down at her covered hands and the metal connecting them together with a sad expression as Bark realized the unknown polar bear male's words were correct. Amy was a criminal now.

"Hey." Bark said whispering, nudging her lightly with his right arm. "You okay?"

Amy faked a small smile and nodded in response to the ridiculous question. Sitting a little straighter, Amy tentatively looked out of the window to see if they were there yet. Amy might've asked them if she wasn't so scared as right now she could only see ocean from a prison on an island miles from anywhere that housed the most dangerous criminals in Mobius. There weren't any buildings visible as far as Amy could see but then again, the bushes hindered her view.

As if Bark heard Amy thoughts, he started to talk.

"We're almost there." Bark said glanced down at Amy, who was looking nervous and worried. "You'll be fine."

Amy almost laughed at how unconvinced Bark sounded of his own words.

The unknown grizzly bear male driver however, let out a sharp laugh, frightening Amy a little at the sudden loud noise.

"Don't lie to her. Those guys will eat her alive and who know's how literal that is. Crazy criminals are up to all sorts nowadays." the unknown grizzly bear male said.

The unknown white polar bear male next to the unknown grizzly bear on the right side laughed along but Amy only stared at them in horror and confusion.

"G-guys?" Amy asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Bark stayed silents whilst the other polar bear bursted into more laughter.

"Yeah? You do know which prison you're going to, right?" the unknown polar bear male said once he finished.

Amy's cheeks grew pink in embarrassment. "I-I didn't really pay attention." she said, admitting shyly.

Amy looked to her left and saw Bark purse his lips together.

"There wasn't anymore spaces in the women's prison and your parents didn't want you to go to another one so far away." Bark said.

Amy frowned at Bark's hesitation, not liking where this was going.

"Amy, you're going to Prison Island... for Men." Bark said.

It was like the air was knocked out of Amy as the last word escaped Bark's lips.

_"Men?!" _Amy thought.

Amy closed her eyes tightly as her imagination ran wild with thoughts of what could happen to her as she wasn't unaware of the dangers of the world, even if her parents liked to keep her away from the public. The news told Amy enough about what she could expect in the next year in prison.

"B-b-but-" Amy said stuttering but was cut off.

"And, we're here! Good luck, kid." the unknown grizzly bear driver said interrupting and looked over his right shoulder to see Amy with a more than earful expression on her face. "You're gonna need it."

Once they drove up to the large metal gates, the unknown grizzly bear male driver reached out of his window to press a button on the side of the wall with his left index finger, making it buzz, before speaking into the intercom.

"Hey, mate. Let us in will ya'? Got the new girl with us." the unknown grizzly bear male asked.

There was a crackling through the speaker and then the unknown animal male responded with a laugh.

"You're kidding me! I thought that was just a rumor. Well, come in." the unknown animal male said.

The metal gates opened, allowing them to drive through and into the compound. Amy couldn't help but look behind her and out of the back window where she watched the gates close behind her, locking her into the prison. Amy's eyes followed the gates and saw that it was connected to large stone walls, surrounding the whole area with large spikes at the top, preventing people from climbing over.

Too distracted, Amy didn't notice her door was opened until a right arm yanked her out of the car. It was the unknown polar bear male dragging Amy away without a word, making the metal dig into her wrists. They were already a little too tight so Amy was sure they were going to leave marks.

The unknown grizzly bear male driver drove off once Bark was out of the car too, leaving them in the cold air. Amy was again harshly pulled forward, indicating her to start walking. The cemented path they were walking along was right beside the large yard that was lined with tall metal fences. Amy was slightly shocked to see it as it looked like something to hold feral animals in a zoo. There were, however, a few metal benches littered around.

Amy tried not to look for too long as there were a large amounts of people, either wearing the same orange jumpsuits she wore or a grey sweatpants and top, walking around in the grassy yard. Many stopped to look at Amy and many more chose to shout crude words as soon as they got over the shock of having her there.

Amy squeezed her eyes tightly shut, willing herself not to cry and to also avoid their hostile eyes and she heard something hitting metal and creating a loud sound so she opened her eyes to see a prison officer hitting a baton on the fence that a crowd of prisoners had formed close to with his right hand.

"Hey! Back up inmates! Back up!" an unknown brown wolf male said, yelling to the prisoners.

Amy accidentally made eye contact with a heavily pierced dark brown raccoon male with pumpkin orange eyes that held a sinister smile and creepy eyes, unmoving from her own. He didn't seem fazed by the officer yelling at him and only continued to stare at her until he finally looked away and moved from the fence. The hairs on the back of her neck raised and goosebumps formed on her pale skin, only some as a result of the cold.

Finally, they reached inside of the building and was met with a larger pink human male in a suit, his stature held authority so Amy assumed this the governor, who ran the prison. The pink human male gave Amy a warm smile and held his right hand out for a handshake, only to retract it instantly as he saw Amy chained hands and she gave him an awkward smile in return.

"Hello, Amelia. I'm Governor Erazor Dijinn." the pink human male said and looked at the 2 bear officers by Amy's side. "I'll take it from here boys. Thanks."

The tight grip on Amy's left arm was released as soon as the governor said the words.

"Yes, sir." Bark and the unknown white polar bear male said and walked away, not before Bark gave Amy a small encouraging smile.

"Let's get going shall we? I'll show you to your cell." Erazor said.

Amy almost expected Erazor to say room and she cursed herself for getting distracted by their friendly smiles. Amy was only a prisoner to them and she shouldn't forget it.

Surprisingly, Erazor didn't grab Amy's left arm with his right hand and just walked forward, expecting her to follow, which she did instantly. Amy realized that Erazor wasn't worried she would do anything and it wasn't as if she could escape the island jungle. Either way, Amy appreciated the false freedom given to her.

"I understand that this may be difficult, being in a male prison and all, but I don't tolerate any misconduct between inmates so you shouldn't be worried. If anything happens, you can tell one of the officers and I'll deal with the matter personally." Erazor said to Amy as she looked around curiously, whilst trying to match his steps.

Erazor's words reassured Amy slightly, letting her breathe a little easier.

"However, this doesn't mean you get any special treatment. I will treat you like all of the other inmates here so if you step out of line at all, you will be punished accordingly." Erazor said.

It was understandable but Amy still shuddered at the thought of enduring any kind of punishment.

Amy nodded but realized that it could be seen as rude so she cleared her dry throat and croaked out. "Yes, sir." she said.

Erazor looked down at Amy in mild astonishment, before nodding to himself. "Good. I like manners. That's good." he said.

Amy pitied Erazor as she wouldn't be surprised if he was treated rudely by the other inmates, despite being fair and respectful but then again, she shouldn't judge him so early on, even if it was a positive opinion.

Erazor and Amy passed rows and rows of grey cells until he stopped at one. On the outside, it was identical to all of the others but as Amy peaked through the metal bars, she could instantly tell it was a little cleaner than some of the ones they passed.

"Open up at 13." Governor Erazor said into his walkie talkie with his left hand.

There was a buzz, which was followed by the door sliding open. Erazor turned to Amy and gestured for she to walk in.

"Because you came late, you missed dinner and the other inmates will be getting back to their cells soon so I suggest getting some sleep. Your first official day will start tomorrow. An officer will find you to tell you what job you have." Erazor said then looked up, probably trying to remember if there was anything else to say. "There should be a blanket and pillow for you. Your cellmate doesn't know you are sharing with him so good luck."

Fear ran through Amy as soon as the word cellmate was mentioned and she knew that with her luck, it would be someone eager to torture her, most likely the terrifying guy in the yard. Amy's bottom lip trembled at the thought.

Amy saw Erazor reach into his right pocket with his right hand and hold out a key. Assuming it was for Amy handcuffs, she held her arms up in the same way she did when they were placed on. Erazor unlocked them without a word and with click, Amy's wrists were free from the restraints as her long sleeves instantly fell over her hands as she rolled her wrists but winced at the pain from them.

"Close at 13." Erazor said to the walki talkie with his left hand, locking her cell and trapping her with a loud clang.

Without another look, Erazor walked away leaving Amy all alone with just her thoughts.

Amy turned to look at the room she was to live in for the next year. Upon closer inspection, it wasn't as clean as Amy thought or would've hoped. The floor was covered in a thin layer of grime or dirt and the area surrounding the toilet that was in the middle was covered in urine where Amy's cellmate must've missed the bowl.

The plain grey walls and ceiling brought Amy's mood further down and the limited space in the room made her feel cramped. There was a small desk on the inner right side with some papers littered all over it. Due to her curiosity, Amy looked at them, carefully as to not move anything, and saw many letters to a person named Miles 'Tails' Prower. Amy quickly looked away, knowing that she'd be in trouble if she was caught looking at something she shouldn't and she also would've felt a little guilty if she read something personal to her cellmate.

At the side of the room was a bunk bed. Clearly Amy's cellmate had chosen the top bunk as the dark blue sheets were, although neatly made, had creases as if someone had slept in it recently. Amy's bunk bed that was on the left side had a thin mattress with a white cover on top and even thinner pillow. There was a folded up white sheet, which Amy assumed to blanket given to her.

Amy held up 2 corners of the blanket and made it cover her bed and she tried to be as quiet as possible as it felt like if she were any louder than a little mouse, someone would come and she wanted to be alone for as long as possible.

Tentatively, Amy crawled onto the lower bed, feeling and hearing the springs underneath her and she slid her shoes off and got underneath the covers, leaving her socks on, knowing that her feet would freeze if she didn't.

Amy laid there in silence for a few minutes, wondering how she had managed to get herself into this situation, when suddenly, the sound of a bell resonated in the building. A massive commotion followed and unfortunately for Amy, all of the cell doors slid open. Prisoners walked passed Amy's cell, not noticing the shaking rosy pink hedgehog girl hiding underneath the thin blanket. Amy allowed a small hole to view to entrance of her cell so she wasn't completely unaware of her surroundings.

Thankfully, nobody seemed to notice but Amy did hear many remarks about her as people walked by. Eventually, a yellow-orange fox with twin tails, probably called Tails, walked into her cell just as they shut.

The twin tailed yellow-orange fox male didn't seem to notice her as Amy rearranged his letters into a large pile with both hands. Amy stayed silent and felt like she couldn't speak even if she wanted to. Amy wondered whether she would pass out from how fast her heart was beating.

Only when the twin tailed yellow-orange fox male stood in front of the toilet and began to pull his sweatpants down with both hands until Amy let out a squeak and covered her eyes with both hands.

"Oh shit!" the twin tailed yellow-orange fox male said and Amy slowly uncovered her eyes with both hands.

The twin tailed yellow-orange fox male stood against the opposite wall like he was trying to get as far away from Amy as possible as her stared at her in surprise and anger.

"What the fuck?" the twin tailed yellow-orange fox male asked in a yelled whisper.

"I-I-I'm your n-new cell-cellmate." Amy said whispering back, too afraid to speak any louder.

The twin tailed yellow-orange fox male scoffed. "Yeah, I can tell. You've definitely made your self comfortable haven't you." he said sarcastically.

Afraid Amy did something wrong, she sat up but banged her head on the bed above her. The pain made Amy rub the top of her head with her left hand, although she didn't let herself fuss over it as she quickly explained herself to her new cellmate.

"Is this not the right bed? I-I'm so sorry. I'll move r-right away." Amy asked then began to get out of the bunk bed but the twin tailed yellow-orange fox male held his right hand out to stop her.

"No, that's the right bunk." the twin tailed yellow-orange fox male said, sighing loudly. "Well, I guess welcome. I'm Miles Prower but everyone calls me Tails."

Amy chose not to tell Tails she already knew his name and just introduced herself. "My name is Amy." she said.

"Fuck. I can't believe this is happening to me. You're the new girl that has got all the guys riled up. You can't believe what they'd give me to trade cells. You've probably just got me killed." Tails said complaining, walking to the bunk bed and then climbed up the small ladder.

"I'm sorry." Amy said whispering, playing with her fingers guilty.

"Don't tell me you're innocent too?" Tails asked.

Amy didn't say anything, making Tails curse again and flop on the bed and she lied down and saw a dent in the mattress between the metal bars where he lay. Amy hoped Tails wouldn't fall through and squish her.

"I wish you luck then cause I hope you're not counting on me to protect you. The guys in here will crush you and me into pieces." Tails said.

The conversation wasn't helping Amy's fears but she was thankful that Tails was nice. It was good to talk to someone in the same situation as Amy, maybe not identical, but close enough.

"L-like who?" Amy asked.

"Shadow Robotnik. I'd stay away from him if I was you. There are other but I'm sure you'll find out." Tails said.

_"Shadow Robotnik."_ Amy thought.

Amy noted down the name in her heard and promised herself to avoid to guy at all costs.

"I'm too nervous to pee now so go to sleep so I can go later." Tails said, ordering.

Amy closed her eyes shut and said quietly. "O-okay. Goodnight." she said.

Amy didn't expect Tails to respond and he didn't and she willed herself to fall asleep as fast as possible, hoping that when she would wake again, it would be in her warm cozy bed and she'd laugh at how ridiculous her dream was.

...

Morning.

The walls shook with the sound of bell, waking Amy from her sleep. During the night, Amy wasn't able to get much and if she did, it wasn't very deep so she woke up exhausted.

Amy slowly sat up, remembering to bend her head so it didn't hit the top bunk and groaned at the wet pillow, stained with tears, her cheeks flushed in embarrassment at the thought of Tails hearing her cry throughout most of the night.

Amy's cellmate was standing in the small area she and Tails had next to their beds, leaning against the wall and looking out of the bars as if he were waiting for something.

"Good." Amy said starting but coughed from her dry throat. "Good m-morning." shyly to Tails.

Tails didn't look at Amy."we don't have 'good' mornings here." he said, quietly.

"Sorry." Amy said, quickly apologizing.

Amy didn't really know what for but she didn't want to get on the bad side of anybody, especially her cellmate.

"You have to toughen up if you want to survive here. Can't go around being all small and quiet. You n-need to show people they shouldn't mess with you." Tails said to Amy, avoiding all eye contact.

"So, I have to be tall and loud?" Amy asked, her eyebrows creased at Tails' advice.

"Yes." Tails said.

"I can't do that." Amy said.

Just as Tails was about the reply, someone, who Amy assumed from the uniform was a prison staff member, wheeled a cart past their cell. Tails didn't linger as he quickly looked on the cart and passed some material through the bars of the cell to Tails, before moving along to the next one. Amy watched Tails quickly glance at the labels and then throw the balled up clothes at her, hitting her in the face. Amy mumbled a 'thank you and then looked at what she was given.

Immediately, Amy could tell it was several sizes too big, just like her orange jumpsuit. With the little courage Amy had in the early morning with no food in her stomach.

"Isn't there a smaller size?" Amy asked, shyly.

Tails turned to look at Amy and raised both of his hands in a mock defensive position, one hand holding his own prison uniform.

"Oh I'm sorry, princess. Is that not good enough for you? I'm sorry they don't have Prada or Gucci here." Tails asked, sarcastically.

The malice in Tails' voice made Amy's eyes start to water so she lowered her gaze and played her fingers.

Amy didn't even dare ask Tails about undergarments.

Eventually, Tails sighed before ordering.

"Get dressed before they open up the cells for breakfast." Tails said.

Amy's eyes widened and looked up at the cell doors. If anybody walked by, they would be able to clearly see right into Tails and Amy's cell. Then she looked at Tails with worry, wondering how she'd get changed with people watching.

Tails rolled his eyes and walked to Amy as she shuffled back so she was close to the wall and further away from the cellmate. Amy watched curiously as Tails reached up to his bunk, grabbed his bed sheet and then walked to the cell door. Holding it up as high as Tails could, he covered the door with the dark blue sheet with both hands, effectively blocking the view.

"Quick." Tails said, snapping.

Amy took this as the cue to get dressed as quick as she could. Though not taking any chances and risking Amy's dignity, she crawled under her sheet and, while struggling, successfully changed out of her jumpsuit and into the grey sweatpants and top.

"Done." Amy said, mumbling quietly and emerged from the sheets.

Tails put the sheet down and threw it back on the the bed. The small rosy pink hedgehog girl began to fold her sleeves with a pout of her lips, frowning at the abundance of extra material.

"Turn around. I'm not giving any free shows here." Tails said to Amy, making her jump and blush in embarrassment.

A moment later, the familiar bell sounded and the cell doors opened, followed by a buzz of people shouting, startling Amy once again as she found that since being in the prison, despite only being there for a night, she was very on edge all the time as evident from her jumping at every sudden sound.

"C'mon. If you get lost, don't expect me to find you." Tails said, looking down at Amy in the eyes. "Stay close."

Amy smiled up at Tails a little, thinking that he wasn't too bad and she could've had a much worse of a cellmate. Amy considered herself extremely thankful to have met Tails.

Climbing out of the bed, Amy slipped her sneakers on and hurriedly rolled her pants up, both at the waist and the legs. Amy was 18 but felt like a 5 year old in all the oversized clothes had been given.

Seeing that Tails was already at the door waiting for a large group of prisoners to pass, Amy sped over to him, timidly hiding. As soon as there was a gap, Tails walked forward and turned around to see that Amy was following closely by.

People already starting noticing Amy, clear from their crude gestures and bad words. They purposely walked closer, squashing her between many tall, large men. Some of them didn't care and carried on walking to breakfast but many others reached out to touch Amy by grabbing her arms or stroking her hair and she looked at the many hands and saw them connected to the prisoners. They had some differences in the way they physically looked but all of them held creepy smiles. It all made Amy cringe and squirm away.

"Hey sweetie. Wanna join me in my cell for a fun time?" a black bear male with dark brown eyes asked.

"Looking pretty there girly." a purple mole male with olive green eyes said.

"Little rich girl playing with the bad boys ey?" a yellow cat male with lavender eyes asked.

"Wanna be friends?" a bright red heron with light blue eyes asked.

All of their voices seemed to merge together and repeat loudly in Amy's head. What was actually 2 hands felt like 2 million and each gave Amy an overwhelming feeling of disgust as she walked quicker to try and get away.

Distracted by everything happening to Amy, she didn't notice that by following the crowd, they had already made their way to the canteen. However, Amy also didn't notice that Tails wasn't in front of her. Amy had gotten lost in the crowd and forgot to stay close to the guy like Tails said. Amy looked around for Tails, spinning her head in every direction but trying to avoid making eye contact with anyone.

Suddenly, Amy felt someone's right hand squeeze her butt harshly. Amy jumped and backed away from the hand, stumbling over the pant legs that had unrolled, before turning around and seeing that it was the prisoner that stared at her as she first arrived into the prison. Sure, everybody was staring but this unknown white wolf male chilled Amy to her very core as he seemed even more frightening up close with his crooked yellow teeth, yellow-green eyes that looked like pee and the piercings on his face, his tongue came out and liked his lips, lingering on his lip piercing as he leaned forward and eerily said.

"Sorry, sugar. Didn't see you there." the unknown white wolf said.

Amy's whole body was shaking as she was afraid she'd pass out from fear, which would be even worse as she didn't know what the unknown white wolf do to her if she were unconscious. Even if Amy had wanted to respond with something, maybe something to seem braver than she actually was so the unknown white wolf male wouldn't mess with her, no words would come out of her mouth.

Amy was slowly backing away, when her back met something hard and a strong pair of hands were placed on hips. Amy froze. Now, Amy was surrounded and from the look of fear on the silent prisoners around her, the person behind her was even more terrifying than the one harassing her.

But, Amy couldn't help but inhale his manly scent that enveloped her, making her toes curl inside her trainers. It was a truly intoxicating smell, which confused Amy as she pictured what he looked like in her head and the monster did not match the feelings he was suddenly giving her.

"Leave her alone, Drago." the unknown animal male said, his chest rumbled as he spoke, vibrating against Amy's back.

The unknown animal male's husky voice held anger and threat, all making Amy's stomach filled with butterflies as she marveled at how his voice sounded. It sounded all the lot nicer because of the fact the unknown animal male was defending Amy.

Amy looked at the hands on her hips and saw them covered with black and red fur, and tattoos. Amy found herself wanting to look at every single one of them in detail. Slowly, Amy turned around but was met with a white furred chest so her head had to be craned upwards to finally see the face of the only person to stick up for her.

A jet black male with red stripes on his quills, his tattoos, again, attracted crimson red eyes, covering the tan skin of his muzzle and white chest fur that disappeared into his clothes. Despite the loose fit, Amy could tell the unknown black hedgehog male had a well built physique, most probably from working out during his free time in prison, his jaw was clenched in, what seemed like, anger, allowing her to notice that his jawline looked like it could cut diamonds. Amy wanted to stand on the tips of her toes just to look into the unknown black hedgehog male's eyes and see deeper into the crimson red color she saw.

All of a sudden, the unknown black hedgehog male's eyes looked to Amy making her look away and at his clothed chest, blushing profusely at being caught ogling a potential psychopathic killer or rapist.

"What's it to you? You gotta share the little sugar, Shadow." Drago said, smirking in Amy's direction.

_"Shadow?!"_ Amy thought.

Amy remembered that he was the one person Tails warned her about. One side of Amy wanted to run but another wanted to stay. It wasn't fair to judge Shadow based on something another person said and plus, Amy only cared about how he was acting in this moment. Shadow didn't seem threatening towards Amy so naturally, she leaned back into Shadow, trying to get as far away from Drago as possible. Amy also tried to subtly inhale his smell but from the weird look on a few of the prisoners watching, it wasn't as subtle as she thought.

Shadow's muscled right arm curled around Amy's front and effectively pushed her behind him as her small hands resisted from clutching onto his right arm as she didn't want him to let go, surprisingly feeling comfort from him touching her and not disgust like she felt from the other prisoners.

Shadow walked forward, Amy shuffling behind him closely and cringing away from the other people around them. Shadow firmly grabbed onto Drago's top with his left hand and narrowed his eyes, sneering.

"You, don't touch her. Ever." Shadow said.

Shadow pushed Drago away, making him fall back into a group of people all glaring at Shadow. Shockingly to Amy, Drago only laughed.

_"If that were me, I'd run away!"_ Amy thought.

"Someone's got a crush." Drago said sing, waving his hands about.

Amy fiddled with her sleeves that were also now unrolled and bit her lip in embarrassment. The idea of this model looking prisoner having a 'crush' on Amy was ludicrous but it still brought a reaction.

However, Shadow's reaction was much more different to Amy's as he stepped forward and delivered a powerful right hook to Drago's face. The sound it made on impact made Amy wince and look away from the violence.

"What's going on here?!" a familiar male voice asked.

A beige polar bear male prison officer barged his way through the crowd and finally reached them. Amy smiled, seeing that it was Bark as he looked at her warmly as she peeked out from behind a person but frowned when he saw who her savior was and scowled even further when he saw Drago knocked out cold.

Bark shook his head and rubbed his face with his right hand, making Amy assume that something like this happening wasn't unusual.

"Take him to the nurse." Bark said to another polar bear male guard that had followed him. "Nothing to see here! Move along inmates!" ordering the room and walked away.

The crowd dispersed and went back to it's racket. Shadow turned around and stared at Amy and he didn't say anything making Amy feel a little awkward as she squirmed under his gaze.

"Erm. Th-thank y-you." Amy said with gratitude.

The corners of Shadow's lips quirked up slightly, but fell just as quick as it appeared. Shadow wrapped his right arm around Amy's waist and began walking to the line. Amy tried to move away from Shadow because even though he saved her, he was still a stranger and she had no idea what type of crime he committed. However, when Shadow's hold on Amy tightened so her body was touching his side, she stopped resisting and hoped he'd relax his grip a little, which he did.

Shadow walked them to the line, grabbing trays for himself and Amy and pushed in front of the waiting people. They looked like they wanted to protest but when they saw who it was, their mouths stayed shut. Although, Amy still felt bad so she looked up at Shadow to say quietly.

"W-We shouldn't p-push i-in." Amy said.

Amy was a little surprised Shadow heard her with all the commotion in the canteen and the fact her voice was barely audible to even herself. But, Shadow clearly did when he looked down at Amy with furrowed eyebrows.

"Don't worry about it, angel." Shadow said.

_"Angel?"_ Amy thought.

Realizing that Amy hadn't told Shadow her name yet. "M-My name is Amy." she said.

"It's pretty." Shadow said.

Amy's cheeks heated but before either could say anything, a small bowl of porridge was placed on Shadow's tray. Amy looked at the dinner dog lady and smiled at her as the woman scooped the food into a bowl and put it on her tray.

"Thank you." Amy said, sweetly.

"You're welcome, pet." the late middle aged dog lady said in surprise of the prisoner's manners.

Shadow's right hand on Amy's back led her forward, where some pears, apples, and bananas were presented and he grabbed an apple and nodded his head towards the fruit.

"Choose." Shadow said.

Amy's lips pursed in thought but she must've been thinking longer than she thought because the orange male squirrel behind her yelled.

"Make your mind up, lady! My stomach's rumblin'." the unknown male orange squirrel said.

A glare from Shadow quickly shut the unknown male orange squirrel up.

Shadow leaned down and whispered to Amy. "Take your time, angel." he said.

Not wanting to anger anybody else or waste more time, Amy quickly took a banana with her left hand.

Although, Amy was going to choose that anyway.

From left to right, Shadow and Amy walked to a table, that was surprisingly empty, while people sneaked quick glances at the 2. Once they sat down, Shadow poured them both the one drink option, water, which Amy mumbled a quiet 'thank you' to. Despite porridge being one of Amy's favorites, the taste was bland, making her wish for a little sugar.

"You'll get used to it." Shadow said to Amy, shoveling the food into his mouth like he hadn't eaten for days with his right hand on a spoon.

Shadow quickly finished, while Amy took her time.

"Thank you for being nice to me." Amy said between mouthfuls, eating politely like how her mother would tell her to do.

The look on Shadow's face was one of confusion and thought.

"How did someone like you end up in a place like this?" Shadow asked, reaching out to touch one of Amy's rosy pink quills and twirling her hair between his right fingers.

Amy tried not to focus on Shadow's fur that would graze the left side of Amy's face, making her cheeks burn.

"What do you mean someone like me?" Amy asked.

"Innocent. Beautiful." Shadow said, looking into Amy's jade green eyes.

Shadow's doing it on purpose as he wants to make Amy look like a tomato. Amy bit the inside of her left cheek to stop from smiling at the compliment as Shadow smirked at her. Amy didn't think anyone had called her beautiful before. The tabloids didn't count.

Amy's eyes then caught a yellow-orange fox behind Shadow. It was Tails walking around with a tray in his hands as he looked around for an empty seat. Amy smiled and waved at Tails with her left hand and she hoped Tails wasn't mad at her for getting lost.

When Tails finally spotted Amy's waving left hand, a look of pure terror and fear washed across his face. Amy could see Tails' hands visibly shaking until he dropped his tray and speed walked out of the canteen and she frowned but looked at Shadow and instantly knew what frightened him. Shadow's muscles tensed as he clenched his hands into fists on the table and he was glaring in the direction of Tails and he was breathing harshly through his nose.

"A-are you okay?" Amy asked.

Without thinking, Amy placed her left hand on Shadow's tattooed right hand.

Shadow looked down at Amy, his eyes softening and almost immediately, his right hand relaxed and held onto her left hand.

"Perfect." Shadow said.

...

Amy ate the rest of her breakfast in silence. Both because Amy didn't know what to say after Shadow turned her cheeks scarlet, and because she wasn't a chatty person anyway. Luckily, it was a comfortable silence rather than the awkward ones Amy was used to with her family.

Amy sat for a moment and sipped the last of her water with her right hand before Shadow grumbled.

"Come on." Shadow said then stood up from the bench.

Amy looked up at Shadow, slightly startled as she didn't know where he wanted them to go.

"W-where?" Amy asked, stumbling over the word and the bench at the same time.

Shadow put his right hand on the small of Amy's back to steady her, though he didn't let go as they walked out of the canteen and through a large hallway. If anything, Shadow pulled Amy closer by wrapping his right arm around his waist almost possessively. Amy thought Shadow was very touchy-feely for someone she had only met that morning, but she didn't seem to mind all that much.

"The common room is where we go in free time." Shadow said.

Amy assumed the 'we' was prisoners, which unfortunately included her now.

"It's that, the gym or the yard outside." Shadow said.

"Can w-we go out-outside?" Amy asked,

Amy didn't know why she was asking for Shadow's permission to go to a place together, as if they were a couple deciding where to have their date. It was ridiculous but something about Shadow made Amy not want to leave his side.

Shadow looked Amy up and down, frowning at her clothes. "You'll get cold." he said.

"How did this man end up in prison?!" Shadow asked.

Amy thought as she was baffled by how sweet and attentive Shadow was as it made him more attractive in her opinion. Although, Shadow didn't need any help in that compartment.

Amy smiled to herself, trying to contain the large grin that threatened to escape and freak everybody around her out. Amy could almost laugh that the first time a male had taken a slight interest in her, Shadow was a criminal for whatever terrible reason.

Too focused on Amy's misfortune, she didn't notice they were in the common room until Shadow patted her side lightly with his left hand.

"Here it is." Shadow said, watching Amy's reaction.

The common room was fairly large, not as big as the canteen though, and brightly lit with windows to see outside to the yard. There were clearly different sections of the room for different activities. In one corner, people were playing snooker and in another, was a games console and a large flat screen TV with couches in front of them. The games had men yelling in competitiveness and placing bets on who they thought the winner would be.

However, the more silent area held chess and other board games. This is where some of the older and less dangerous looking prisoners were. Amy couldn't hear what they were saying but from their lips moving, she knew they were conversing quietly, maybe even politely.

What peaked Amy's interest the most, was the small bookcase full to the brim with books. It was no where near as big as Amy's own massive library at home but it was still more than she could ever wish for in a prison. There were more couches and even a couple of bean bags in the corner, occupied by a few other prisoners. In the same section was a table and a messy box of paper and colored pencils.

This time, Amy was not afraid to show her full on cheshire cat grin. Amy looked at Shadow with the expression, who let out a deep, masculine chuckle at her pure excitement.

"See something you like?" Shadow asked Amy, rubbing circles into her waist with his right thumb.

Amy nodded frantically and pointed at the section with the books with her left index finger. "There, please." she said.

Amy was aware she should have been acting more fearless and vicious to warn off predators but in front of books, she couldn't contain her eagerness.

As soon as Shadow started walking, Amy sped off to stand in front of the short bookcase and observe each one in detail before making her final and very important choice. Amy was vaguely conscious of the couple of people watching her from behind their books and the even larger amount of strangers staring from across the room.

A gasp escaped Amy as hands abruptly yanked her back into a body, where she was spun so her front touched a hard chest and her startled eyes met Shadow's angry ones.

Shadow leaned down close enough for Amy to feel his breath on her face. "Don't run away from me." he said, roughly.

Amy stood still, wondering why she fit so perfectly in a stranger's arms and why she liked being close to Shadow so much. Not wanting Shadow to be angry, Amy cautiously rubbed her left hand over his chest in a soothing manner.

"P-please don't be a-angry." Amy said.

Shadow's previously tense muscles relaxed with Amy's gentle gesture. After a while, Shadow slowly pulled away a little, putting his right hand on Amy's left hip and ran the back of his left fingers over her flushed right cheek.

"Sorry, my angel. I don't want you to be away from me with all these men around." Shadow said.

Amy understood because who knew how many murderers were in the room with her at that moment. Amy however didn't understand why Shadow would care whether she was safe or not but she decided not to dwell on their moment and focus on what she was excited about in the first place.

"Can I read now?" Amy asked, smiling shyly at Shadow.

"Choose one." Shadow said, gesturing to the books with an encouraging smile.

This time a little more nervously, Amy walked over and continued to read the book spines, occasionally picking one up to read the blurb. Behind her, Amy heard Shadow say in a low voice.

"Scram." Shadow said.

Amy turned around and witnessed the scrawny looking inmates running out of their seats in fear of Shadow.

"Don't do that." Amy said pouting, looking out at the only people she could've had a decent conversation with.

"Don't do what?" Shadow asked with confusion.

"Be mean." Amy said as her eyes tried to avoid Shadow's, afraid he'd grow angry at her for telling him off with the sudden bravery she found.

But, it was like Amy's eyes were drawn to his as if they were magnets as she couldn't help but look at them.

Shadow gave Amy an amused smile. "I'm mean?" he asked.

Hesitantly, Amy nodded.

"It's who I am, little kitten." Shadow said.

Amy scrunched her nose at the new nickname.

"Don't like it?" Shadow asked, referring to the name.

Amy shook her head in response.

"You're like a kitten. You jump at loud noises and your claws come out... occasionally." Shadow said.

"But I'm a hedgehog not a kitten and I like puppies more than kittens." Amy said, not responding to his teasing smile.

Amy finally settled on a book that she had read a long time ago. Most of them were quite old and not well looked after so there wasn't much choice if Amy wanted one with all of the pages intact.

"Are you not reading?" Amy asked Shadow when she saw him just watching her with his arms crossed, making his muscles bulge in his top.

Shadow shook his head and sat down on the battered couch. "Why don't you read to me?" he asked, suggesting.

Not seeing why not, Amy shrugged and went to sit next to Shadow on the left side, tucking her legs comfortably next to her side.

"Have you read this one before?" Amy asked Shadow curiously, now feeling more comfortable around her supposed protector.

"No. I don't really have time to read." Shadow said softly in Amy's right ear as he wrapped his left arm around her shoulders to pull her closer.

Amy let her quills fall in between them, hoping to hide the blush that sprouted from Shadow's casual action.

"W-well, you'll like this one." Amy said to Shadow and then busied herself with flipping through the opening title pages with her left hand. "I'd never given much thought to how I would die."

Amy paused to look at Shadow's reaction to the first line and hoped he hadn't lost interest so early on. Only, Amy didn't expect Shadow's face to be so close to hers, letting alone staring at her with an emotion that confused her.

"Carry on." Shadow said whilst his eyes stayed on Amy's lips.

Amy turned her head and quickly licked her lips, hoping to get rid of any food that was stuck on them.

Looking back to Shadow with a shy smile, Amy decided that it was the perfect time to ask the question that played on her mind all morning.

"Shadow?" Amy asked.

Shadow hummed in acknowledgement.

"Can I ask you a question?" Amy asked.

"Go ahead, angel." Shadow said.

Now, Amy wanted to ask Shadow about the nickname he had given her, angel, but thought that 2 questions would be pushing her luck.

"Why do people look at you like that?" Amy asked finally asked after a pause.

"Like what?" Shadow asked but looked like he already knew the answer.

It would have been impossible to not notice.

"Scared." Amy said gulping, her throat suddenly feeling dry and slightly regretting ever speaking.

Shadow's face hardened, losing any hint of a smile ever existing and his chest moved up and down as he let out a large breath. "Once you know, you'll look at me like that too." he said.

...

Night Time.

"Thank you." Amy said mumbling to the green badger male prison officer that escorted her to her cell.

Shadow had to go to his own, which was on the other side of the building and he didn't hide the fact that he didn't want to leave Amy alone as he reluctantly walked away with an annoyed look, but only after telling the prison officer to take her to her cell safely.

Amy enjoyed his concern and liked the short time she and Shadow had spent together as she had struggled for words after he practically gave her confirmation that he had done something horrific but surprising both him and herself, she didn't run away screaming. Instead, Amy reopened the book with her left hand and carried on reading aloud to Shadow, managing to read a lot of the chapters until the bell rang.

As Amy thought about her morning, she realized how eventful it was. There was already people that seemed to hate her and someone that made her feel safer than she had ever felt in her entire life.

"You're welcome." the green badger male officer said gruffly, breaking Amy out of her thoughts, and left.

Amy walked in and sat on her bed as she waited for Tails to come as she didn't have to wait for very long as he arrived almost immediately after with a frantic look on his face.

"What were you doing with Shadow?" Tails asked, sounding like a mixture between scared and angry but Amy couldn't understand why.

"He protected me from Drago." Amy said in a timid voice, worried that she had done something she shouldn't have.

Tails looked up and groaned as Amy's eyes zeroed in on his tightened fists. "After I specifically told to stay away from him, you decide to eat breakfast with him." he said.

"Well you weren't anywhere to be found." Amy said snapping, her eyes widened at the tone of her voice. "And he's really nice." quietly.

Tails scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Of course he is." he said with sarcasm. "He probably just wants to get into your pants."

Amy's forehead crinkled with the thought that Shadow was only pretending to be nice to her but she quickly shook her head to rid it as he had his scary side but he also showed her his caring side, a side her family hadn't shown her for years until the few minutes before she was sent away. Tails obviously had something against Shadow and Amy wanted to find out what.

"Why don't you want me around him?" Amy asked.

"Oh no!" Tails said.

Amy jumped as Tails swore loudly as he looked at her with realization whilst he paced around nervously.

"If he's got his eyes on you, he's probably going to kill me for even talking to you right now. I'm dead! You've just signed my death certificate. I'm going to die. I'm going to die." Tails said.

"Tails! Why are you so scared of him?" Amy asked as pure confusion laced her voice, stopping Tails' ramblings.

Tails sat on the metal chair by the desk and turned to face Amy as he looked around like he was afraid someone was watching.

"Shadow is dangerous... a really bad person. He practically owns the whole place and has gang members in and out of prison that are prepared to hurt anyone you love at his command." Tails said.

Amy gasped loudly. "G-gang?" she questioned.

"Yeah." Tails said, confirming with a nod. "You shouldn't be around him, Amy. You-you don't even know what he's done to end up here in prison and you don't want to know."

Amy did want to know though, so she couldn't stop herself from asking. "what did he do?" she asked.

"They call him the 'Black Wind' for a reason." Tails said.

...

Morning.

Amy found it difficult to believe what Tails had said about Shadow being the 'Black Wind' and she thought the male hedgehog was probably the nicest person she had met so far, going as far as to calling him her knight in orange jumpsuit in her head and laughing about it afterwards.

However, Amy's cellmate seemed to tremble at just the name of said knight and people did look at Shadow with some sort of fear. It could be possible Shadow was dangerous, especially if he was a gang leader but he was very gentle and patient with Amy. And anyway, Tails was scared of everyone in prison apart from Amy so she thought he was exaggerating.

They didn't spend much time talking after what Tails said though. Amy suspected Tails didn't know what the crime was anyway so she didn't push the topic. Instead, they played with a deck of cards until the bell rung, telling them to go to lunch.

This time, Amy made sure to not lose sight of Shadow as they walked to the canteen, but her extra caution may not have been necessary. The other prisoners weren't as touchy as they were in the morning. In fact, many made an effort to stay away, although they didn't at all hide the fact they were staring at Amy.

Amy mentally thanked Shadow in her head, knowing that it was probably his doing and she doubted anybody would want to get punched in the face like Drago did.

As they got their food, the petite rosy pink hedgehog girl looked around the room for Shadow as her head would fall in disappointment every time she didn't see his beautiful tattoos somewhere in the room but then look back up a few seconds afterwards in hopes he had arrived.

Eventually, from left to right, Amy realized Shadow wasn't coming so she stayed with Tails as they sat on one of the only empty tables. Amy wondered whether her cellmate had any prison friends but decided to stay quiet as Tails wasn't brave enough to initiate conversation with another prisoner that wasn't a 4' 11." girl.

"T-this is n-nice." Amy said commented quietly in hopes to start a conversation.

Amy picked at her rice and corn with her left hand. Nothing had any flavor but Amy was a little excited to try out the cake as it was her favorite and it was obvious from how often she'd bake when she was at home.

"Nothing about this is nice." Tails said, grumbling back just as quiet.

Tails however wasn't picking at his food.

_"Must be used to it."_ Amy thought.

"At least we get cake." Amy said.

This was better than no food and Amy knew what a day without food was like. Every so often, her mother would prohibit Amy from eating for a day if she thought she was looking slightly chubbier than usual. Sometimes it would be 2 consecutive days if Amy's sister convinced her mother. Luckily, some of the staff would sneak Amy some bread so she wasn't left in pain.

Tails scoffed and shook his head. "Go on. Try the cake then." he said.

Amy was about to say no because she hadn't finished her rice yet but just thought, why not be wild. Her mother isn't here but as soon as Amy's tongue made contact with the sponge cake, her face scrunched up and she spat the disgusting thing out.

"Ew. What is it?" Amy asked, rubbing her tongue with the back of her right sleeve to get all the flavor off.

"Cake. Well, prison cake. The cooks here aren't good at dessert and more often than not, will turn, what could've been a decent cake, in to shit. I think they must've used salt or something." Tails said.

Amy knew what cake tasted like and that wasn't it. "It's terrible." she said.

"Hello chaps!" an unknown male voice said.

Amy turned around at the close voice and saw 2 male walking towards them, 1 was a red echidna male with purple eyes and wore a smirk while the other, a black and red armadillo male with reddish-brown eyes, had a more neutral expression. Amy thought both of them were very attractive but because she could see the beginnings of a tattoo at the end of their sleeves, they only made her think of Shadow. Every little thing made Amy think of that black and red hedgehog. Shadow was very distracting.

Tails had dropped his spoon with his right hand on the tray as his hands were shaking violently as soon as the other prisoners sat across from them, his eyes dropped to his tray, not looking at their direction at all.

"Now, I don't think our buddy Shadow is going to like what we're seeing here. Shaky's feeling brave huh?" the red echidna male asked, laughed at Tails.

"You know Shadow?" Amy asking.

The black and red armadillo male smiled down at Amy. "Everyone knows Shadow so I think you should ask a different question, sweetheart." he said.

Amy thought for a second, fiddling with the ends of her sleeves. "Are you friends?" she asked.

"That we are. We're his best friends and he's asked us to look after you, his angel." The red echidna male said, rolling his eyes at the nickname Shadow called Amy.

Amy blushed and mentally cheered that the red echidna male she was thinking about was also thinking about her. Amy had to admit that maybe she had a tiny crush on Shadow.

Amy looked at the 2 unknown animal males and decided that if Shadow trusted them, they must be okay as he wouldn't save her from a creepy stranger just to give her to 2 other creepy strangers.

_"Unless..."_ Amy thought then shook her head. _"Don't over think!"_

"My name is Amy." Amy said as she knew that they already knew her name but it seemed like something you have to say when meeting new people.

"I'm Knuckles and this goon is Mighty." the red echidna male said looked at Tails. "You alright, Shaky? Got a little sweat there."

"He's called Miles 'Tails' Prower." Amy said knowing Tails wouldn't speak up to defend himself, her eyebrows furrowed as she watched his nervous state.

Mighty chuckled along with Knuckles. "Look at him. The kid is always shaking." he said.

"Am not." Tails said muttering feebly.

But unfortunately, Knuckles and Mighty just laughed harder and even Amy joined in a little after seeing Tails smile slightly too as they all knew that he was a bit of a wimp.

"So what did you do to get in this hell hole, little Amy?" Knuckles asked, brought all their attention back to Amy, needless to say, making her feel a little nervous.

"I stole a b-bag and um... hit a police man when I tried to run away." Amy said, color rushing to her face at how weak her crime was compared to all the other people in there with her.

It wasn't like Amy wanted to do anything bigger though.

Technically, Amy did commit the crime but it wasn't her fault at all. If it was anyone's fault, it was Zinnia's but Amy couldn't telling the truth to anyone and risk both of them in prison as her parents would never forgive her. Amy remembered how a simple question led to her life changing forever.

_..._

_Flashback._

_A few days ago._

_Rose Mansion._

_Library._

_Day Time._

_A large white mansion with a brown roof and red features._

_"Want to go shopping, brat?" Zinnia asked._

_Amy, wearing her casual outfit, a light blue short sleeved shirt, a dark blue jean skirt, white and dark blue sneakers, looked up from her book and gave a confused look to Zinnia as she was leaning on the doorway of the library and as always, she was wearing her casual outfit, a sleeveless orange dress that reached above the knees and had the Giorgio Armani on it, black Stuart Weitzman Stilettos, and a diamond blue nile necklace. It was like Zinnia wore a sign saying. "Look at me! I'm rich!"_

_"Shopping? You want t-to go shopping with m-me?" Amy asked timidly as she was honestly a little afraid of Zinnia. _

_Many times had Zinnia made fun of Amy for any reason she could think of. If Zinnia didn't get her way, she'd go as far as slapping Amy but would always apologize afterwards. They were sisters so Amy always forgave Zinnia, hoping that their relationship would improve._

_"Yeah. Father said I'd get a new car if I spent time with you and got you out of the house." Zinnia said, inspecting her freshly manicured nails._

_Amy felt disappointed as she felt silly to assume her older sister would want anything to do with her willingly. Zinnia made it no secret that she hated being seen with Amy in public so the new car must be important. Amy didn't want to anger Zinnia so she reluctantly put her book on the table and followed her out of the mansion._

_..._

_3 hours later._

_Their whole shopping trip was exhausting to Amy. Avery, Zinnia, and Amy walked along a strip of stores that held products more expensive than some people's houses. Amy mainly talked to the bodyguard, Avery, that followed them as Zinnia walked ahead._

_"Hey, bodyguard guy. We're just going in here. You can talk a break or whatever." Zinnia said to Avery when they stopped in front of Gaid Beauty._

_"I'm sorry Miss but your father has given me specific orders to stay by your side at all times." Avery said with little emotion. _

_Apparently it was part of the job description to never show feelings._

_Zinnia gasped and cocked her right hip with smug face as she thought of something, a look that Amy had seen many times before and it was never followed by good things. _

_"Well, if you don't do as I order then I will get father to fire you because you touched me... inappropriately." Zinnia said._

_Amy watched their exchange in horror and couldn't believe she was related to such a person as her head whipped to see Avery's reaction and saw that it was as terrified as hers._

_"Zinnia you can't say that! You're just j-joking right?" Amy asked, laughing nervously._

_"It's okay, Miss. I'll be waiting for you in the cafe over there." Avery said, walking quickly across the street without another word._

_"Ugh! Finally. I thought he'd never leave." Zinnia said rolling her eyes, sighing exasperatedly and walking into the store._

_Amy looked down, intimidated by the sales assistants watching them, specifically her closely. Amy felt like she was being scrutinized under their watchful eyes, her every move and action being judged._

_"You sh-shouldn't have said that to A-Avery." Amy said muttering, feeling the need to voice her opinion for once._

_"Who?" Zinnia asked as she shifted through the racks of clothes, barely paying attention to her words. "And you know how much I hate your stuttering, freak."_

_"S-sorry." Amy said, looking down. "Avery is our bodyguard."_

_"I just wanted some one on one sister bonding time." Zinnia said, sending Amy a tight lipped smile._

_Amy's mouth opened in shock. "S-So you don't hate m-me?" she asked, timidly._

_"Hmm? Er... No. Course not." Zinnia questioned.  
_

_Amy smiled in happiness at her older sister's reply. Though it seemed like Zinnia was distracted by the many accessories on display, the response was good enough for Amy. Zinnia and Amy browsed through the rest of the store, glancing at every single item in detail._

_..._

_10 minutes later._

_After a few more minutes, Amy begged to wait outside and after a pleading look for mercy, Zinnia allowed it. As Amy stood playing on her phone, her stomach was rumbled in a painful cry out for food and she reminded herself to ask if they could stop by the cafe Avery was at to get something to eat._

_Amy started to day dream about all the different foods she was craving when Zinnia walked out of the store with more bags then they started out with._

_"Woah. What did you g-get?" Amy asked, trying to peek into the bags._

_Zinnia placed some on the ground and look through her bags. "Just some small stuff but the best thing is... this." she said, lifting a medium silver bag with encrusted with shimmering white diamonds on it with both hands and from just a brief uneducated look, Amy could immediately tell it must've been in the range of the millions._

_"Oh my gosh! How did you afford that?" Amy asked._

_"I didn't. My card is maxed out." Zinnia said, laughing._

_With creased eyebrows, Amy muttered. "B-But how did you...?" she asked, her question trailed off when she saw the tin foil wrapped around the security tag. "You stole it?!" _

_"Yes! And be quiet brat. I do this all the time so don't go messing it up for me now." Zinnia said, hissing and looked at the bag like it was her greatest accomplishment._

_"B-b-but, that's against the law." Amy said, shaking her head and reached for the bag with both hands. "We should take it back b-before we get in trouble." louder.  
_

_Zinnia tugged it back to her with both hands, glaring at Amy with hate. "Hey! Get your ow-" she said but was cut off._

_"What's going on there?!" a deep male voice asked, shouting from a bit away from Zinnia and Amy. _

_Zinnia and Amy turned around to see 2 police officers, 1 light brown male fox with lavender eyes and 1 silver otter with spring green eyes frowning at them while beginning to walk closer._

_Amy wanted didn't want to get in trouble so she gave them a smile small, while also trying to act casual as to not draw any unnecessary attention from the other people shopping. Amy didn't know whether to tell them it was a mistake and that she and Amy were just about to return the bag or to not act suspicious and hope that they go away._

_But Amy didn't end up making a choice because a loud shriek was heard from inside the shop. "The new Hermes Birkin Ginza Tanaka bag is gone! Someone stole it!" a female voice said._

_Seeing the reaction on the Rose sisters' faces, the 2 animal policemen instantly knew who were to blame for the missing bag and Zinnia must've known this as she thrusted the bag into Amy's hands._

_ "Run!" Zinnia said, shouting._

_Realizing there was no time to argue, the little rosy pink hedgehog girl sprinted down the streets with the men shouting behind her, telling her to stop. Amy wanted to stop really badly because she grew a stitch in her side and felt like she sprained both ankles twice as she ran as fast as she could, but it was too late to stop. Just running away from the police was a bad idea but at that moment, Amy thought Zinnia was with her and they'd escape together. Only when Amy turned around, Zinnia wasn't there but the two policemen were._

_"Stop!" the 2 animal police men said yelling._

_ Amy could hardly hear it through her heavy panting and the blood rushing to her ears and she__ barged past the shocked people in fancy clothing, squeezing through the crowd and trying to lose the people gaining up on her. Amy started to slow down as the cramps got worst, making her wish she had participated in some form of exercise in her free time._

_Finding limited places to run, Amy turned a corner but tried to turn around when she saw that it was a dead end. However, the 2 animal policemen blocked Amy's way out and stared down at her with angry and exhausted expressions._

_The 2 animal policemen started to back Amy into the brick wall to cuff her but Amy panicked and flailed her arms about, hitting the male otter with the bag with both hands in an attempt to get away. _

_"No! Don't hurt me! Please! I didn't do anything!" Amy said begging, while salty tears ran down her face._

_Too tired and too weak to fight anymore, Amy slouched in their arms, dropping the bag on the ground and giving up as one of them put her hands behind her back and trapped her wrists in metal handcuffs. Amy whimpered at the feeling and tried to pull her hands free but knew it was impossible._

_"Don't even bother. You're not going anywhere." the otter male police officer said snarling in Amy's right ear, yanking her forward with his left hand. _

_"You alright, mate?" the male fox officer asked his partner._

_"It hurts man." __the otter male police officer said._

_Amy looked at ___the otter male police officer_ and gasped at the long scratch across the man's cheek and she guessed the metal and diamond details on the bag got caught on his face when she hit him with it. _

_"I'm s-sorry! I didn't mean to." Amy said crying out, feeling incredibly guilty._

_The injured ___otter male police officer_ scoffed. "Sure you didn't." he said with sarcasm._

_"Please don't arrest me. It wasn't my fault! Have you talked to my sister? Zinnia? Where is she? Is she okay? Did you arrest her too?" Amy asked frantically whipped her head in every direction but couldn't find her anywhere in the crowd that had formed around them._

_"The girl you were with? Yeah, she told us everything." __the male fox officer said._

_Flashback Ends._

_..._

It turned out that Zinnia had told the police it was only Amy that participated in stealing the bag and she had nothing to do with it. Apparently, they had all the evidence they need to believe Zinnia when Amy ran away and hit the otter male police officer. _  
_

Harold and Lily were not too thrilled with the news that Amy was arrested and while they could afford amazing lawyers, they said it would be easier for their family if she took the punishment and told the media that their troubled daughter would learn from her mistakes because of this.

With the promise of a better relationship with her family, Amy took the punishment but didn't like it one bit. It wasn't as frightening as Amy thought it would be but it wasn't ideal. It was prison.

"So what did you do?" Amy asked Tails, trying to get the topic away from her.

Tails looked slightly embarrassed and awkward. "I erm hacked into your father's company." he said.

Amy stared at Tails like he was an alien mutant as her father owned a computer software company and invented a software to protect people from hackers and viruses. Amy remembered that a few years ago, someone found and sold a lot of her father's secret information and sold it to competitors. Around that time, Amy stayed far away from her father and his short temper.

"That was you?!" Amy asked, shouting.

Tails rubbed the back of his neck with his right hand and nodded sheepishly. "Lame right?" he asked.

Amy quickly shook her head in disagreement. "Not at all! You must be some sort of genius." she said in awe.

"Well, I sold illegal weapons. Got myself 10 years." Knuckles said, almost proudly.

"That's not a good thing." Amy said with an incredulous look. "Anyway, Mighty. What did you do?"

"Robbed a bank with firearms. 20 years." Mighty said.

Amy desperately wanted to ask what Shadow did and opened her mouth to ask but was cut off.

"I know what you're going to ask and Shadow has got life in prison." Knuckles said.

Amy gasped at the revelation. "Life?! What did he do?" she asked.

"He-" Knuckles said but was cut off.

An unknown animal male prison officer interrupted Knuckles. "Girl inmate! You've got work." he said.

Confused, Amy slowly got out of her seat, looking around to see if the words were definitely directed to her. Amy muttered a bye to the guys whilst they too got out of their seats when the bell rang.

...

4 minutes later.

The unknown animal male officer brought Amy to the other side of the prison where it looked like a construction site. Many other inmates were also in there, all moving bricks from the broken walls to a separate room. Amy had to resist scrunching her face at the sweaty armpits they all seemed to have.

"Your job's easy, girly. Just move these bricks using the wheel barrow from here to here." the unknown animal male said, gesturing to a pile of bricks in the corner of the room and then to a door way where the other inmates went wheeling their bricks.

Amy was nervously looking at the other prisoners.

"D-do I get gloves or a-anything?" Amy asked.

"N-n-no you don't!" the unknown animal male said, mocking Amy's stutter. "Get to work!"

The unknown animal male officer ordered loudly so Amy scampered off to her designated area with people, both officers and prisoners, laughing at her.

As Amy began to work, her small hands scratched on the rough bricks, causing her to hide a wince as she could feel them watching and heard their nasty snickers all around the room. Everything weighed down on Amy like heavy bricks on her shoulders and with her emotions piling up, it was only natural that she felt the silent tears fall.

* * *

End of Chapter 1.

Please Review.

No Flames.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2.

Please Review.

No Flames.

* * *

Evening.

"Did you get what I need?" Shadow asked, gruffly.

They we're both hidden in a corridor with both Mighty and Knuckles standing at the entrance. Shadow knew from experience that they didn't need to fear getting caught doing the transaction because most, if not all, of the prison officers were aware of who he was and were too afraid to say anything to the Governor.

Sleet took off his backpack with his right hand and unzipped it with his left hand, pulling out a few packets of cigarettes. "H-here." he said, reluctantly handing them over.

Shadow glared at Sleet as his jaw clenched with anger. "That's not all though is it, Sleet?" he asked.

Now a little more nervous, the exact reaction Shadow expected, Sleet pulled out a small puffy white pillow from his backpack with his right hand as it was snatched from him.

"T-this is the l-last t-time. If they find out, I could be in p-prison for another f-five years." Sleet said, stuttering.

Shadow grimaced at the stuttering as it reminded him of his tiny rosy pink hedgehog angel, only he thought she was strangely adorable when she did it and it was just wrong to associate Sleet with the innocent girl.

Sleet was a prisoner and was charged with pedophilia, though he pleaded innocent, and he worked in the laundry part of the prison. The other prisoners hated people like Sleet but only tolerated the wolf because he was one of the people that determined whether you had itchy clothes or not.

Sleet was especially useful to Shadow because he could get him the softer blankets and better washed clothes. Because many of the prison officers stayed in the residential area of the prison, the lazy ones would throw their washing in with the inmates'. This meant loose cigarette packets or drugs might be left in pockets and sometimes even chocolate bars.

People said on these things and Shadow was more than happy to threaten Sleet for them if it meant he could take them to sell. Shadow smiled at Sleet but not the friendly kind of way as it was more of a 'you're annoying me. I'm going to kill you' type smile.

Shadow chuckled darkly and stepped closer. "You remember why you agreed to do me these favors don't you Sleet?" he asked.

From the corner of his eye, Shadow saw Knuckles nudge Mighty to get his attention. Shadow could hear Sleet gulp loudly.

"Y-you said you'd kill my f-family if I didn't." Sleet said.

"That's right. Well done." Shadow said mockingly praised like a teacher congratulating their student. "Do you not care about them anymore?"

"I-I-I-" Sleet said stuttering but was cut off.

"Aren't they the ones you want to go home to when you leave this place? Your wife, Lupe is it? And your 2 twins, right? Leeta and Falke?" Shadow asked, smirking as Sleet began to grow angry but was clearly too afraid to stand up against him.

"Y-y-ye-" Sleet said stuttering but was cut off.

Shadow interrupted Sleet again but this time with a right kick on his left side, knocking him harshly on the concrete floor.

"Do you want them to feel this pain? Is this why you're refusing? Huh?" Shadow asked, whilst kicking Sleet a few more times.

Shadow didn't want his hands red and bruised from the beating because for some reason, he didn't want Amy to know. He didn't want her to see want everybody else did, a monster- Black Wind.

Shadow waved his two right-hand men over and they immediately knew what to do. From left to right, both Mighty and Knuckles took over and beat Sleet until he was curled into a ball and groaning in pain.

"Okay that's enough." Shadow said, ordering before Knuckles and Mighty got carried away and killed Sleet.

Crouching down, Shadow said in a low voice. "I want pants small enough to fit a tiny woman." he said as he didn't need to ask, he knew Sleet would get them.

"A tiny woman ay? Didn't know Mighty needed knew pants." Knuckles asked joking, making both Shadow and Mighty roll their eyes.

Shadow inwardly cursed at having been heard, feeling somewhat embarrassed by the softer side Amy brought out of him. Shadow knew that Amy would appreciate not being on the verge of tripping over her pant legs every time she took a step but he wasn't sure why he even cared as he had only met her that morning.

Sure, Amy was beautiful and intrigued Shadow in a way no other woman had done before, but it didn't explain his sudden urge to protect her and be with her at all times. Shadow even had his men watch over Amy. That was something Shadow couldn't explain.

Mighty didn't bother coming up with a response to Knuckles so he walked away as their work was done.

Swiftly following behind, Knuckles smirked. "So Amy is nice." he said.

No reply from Shadow.

"I think she like us." Knuckles said.

Shadow glared straight ahead and walked with heavy strides to get away from his so called friend as he wasn't stupid. Knuckles just wanted a reaction but Shadow wasn't going to get one.

"I've not had a girl in a while. D'you think she'll want to f-?" Knuckles asked but was cut off.

Within seconds, Shadow had Knuckles pinned to the wall with his right arm on his neck, cutting off Knuckles' air supply.

"Don't even think about finishing that sentence. She's mine." Shadow said in a harsh tone without thinking.

"Shadow, you know he's kidding." Mighty said hesitantly touching Shadow's left shoulder with his right hand, trying to pull him off the gasping man. "He's an idiot with a death wish." He added.

From the slightly pained grin on Knuckles' face, he was enjoying the reaction Shadow had from the small comment. Shadow gave one more glare of warning and then let go, throwing the pillow to Mighty and telling him to put it in his cell. With nothing more to say, Shadow left.

"Invite us to the wedding!" Knuckles said, yelling to Shadow.

Shadow flipped Knuckles off without turning around and walked to the small empty storage room that he would always use to get some privacy. Locking the door behind him, Shadow pulled a lighter out of his pocket with his right hand and lit one of the cigarettes. There was a vent in the room and no fire alarm so it was the perfect place to smoke.

Shadow sighed, feeling much calmer than before. Although it shouldn't surprise Shadow that the other prisoners wanted Amy, it still angered him.

Others might assume the feelings Shadow had were because he hadn't seen a girl in a while other than the nurse and the dinner ladies. Before being sent to prison 4 years ago, Shadow had the occasional one night stands with many different women but none of them held a candle to Amy. That meant Shadow hadn't had sex since he was 20 but it felt like an eternity.

Nevertheless, Shadow knew his lack of sex wasn't the reason for his attraction to Amy as he wanted to protect her from the other prisoners and she would definitely need it. Shadow had no idea what Amy was doing there but someone must've answered his prayers and sent him an angel because admittedly, he was extremely grateful for her, not that he'd ever tell anybody that.

When the bell rang to tell people to go to their cells, Shadow decided to wait a few minutes before he eventually put the cigarette out and crushed it with the bottom of his right shoe. Despite having some power over the guards, they'd still be able to punish Shadow if he clearly broke the rules in front of everyone, especially the governor. So, Shadow couldn't be wandering about when everyone else was supposed to be in their cells.

The hallways were empty by the time Shadow got to the main part of the prison. With Shadow's thoughts occupied by a certain new prisoner, he didn't see someone come around the corner and bump into him.

From their petite frame and rosy pink head of silky quills with a pair of jade green eyes, Shadow immediately knew it was Amy and he rested his hands on the sides of her waist and pulled her closer when she tried to get away.

"Hello, kitten." Shadow said, quietly.

Amy's head sprang up at the sound of his surprisingly soft voice, making Shadow inwardly smile at the fact she seemed a little less scared when she knew it was him.

"Hi." Amy said, her voice was barely above a whisper and if it wasn't for their silent surroundings.

Shadow wouldn't have heard Amy.

Shadow frowned when he noticed Amy's red and puffy eyes and the slight remnants of tears. Without hesitation, Shadow rubbed the pad of his right thumb on Amy's soft left cheek to wipe away the moisture away but stopped when she flinched, the action making a piercing pain shoot through his chest.

Shadow ignored it. "Why were you crying?" he asked, his tone was demanding and angry.

Not at Amy, but at whatever caused the tears. Shadow felt like going on a rampage just because of it.

"I w-wasn't." Amy said lying, unconvincingly and put her hands on Shadow's in a weak attempt to escape as she squirmed in his hold.

Shadow felt the same warmth of Amy's hands he had felt that morning when she calmed him down from attacking that shaky fox boy. However, it wasn't the same because Amy's skin were previously baby soft but now it was extremely rough against Shadow's. Confused and getting increasingly worried by the second, Shadow held Amy's hands with both hands and turned them to see her palms.

Shock filled him at the various bloody cuts and bruises on Amy's dainty little hands. The same hands that were so delicate that Shadow felt the need to handle them like precious china even without the injuries.

"What happened?" Shadow asked. _"In other words, who do I have to kill?"_ he thought.

"Nothing." Amy said squeaking, staring wide eyed at Shadow as his jaw clenched.

Shadow raised an eyebrow. "You better tell me the truth now, kitten. I won't ask again." he said.

With a sigh of defeat, Amy reluctantly explained. "I have a job with bricks but they didn't give me gloves and I'm late because he m-made me wheel the wheelbarrow a-and everyone k-kept looking at m-me and m-making fun of m-me." she said.

When Amy started to tear up at the end, Shadow wrapped his arms around her in a comforting hug. Well, as comforting as Shadow could manage.

"Shh Shh. It's okay, angel. I'll deal with them. You just need to tell me the name of the bad men, okay?" Shadow questioned.

Amy shook her head in Shadow's chest. "I don't want you to get hurt." she said mumbling, adorably unaware of what Shadow was capable of.

Shadow wanted to laugh at Amy's words.

"Was it the leading prison officer that was mean to you and didn't give you gloves?" Shadow asked as he wasn't letting the topic go until he got an answer and thankfully.

Amy gave Shadow one with a small nod of her head.

"Okay. Now, let's clean those hands of yours before they get infected." Shadow said.

Shadow led Amy to the toilets, only passing 1 or 2 people on the way but no one really cared what they were doing. Seeing the dirty bathroom, Amy cowered behind Shadow but with a little push, she went inside. Shadow made sure there was nobody in there first though.

Scowling at the grime covered room, Shadow looked for the cleanest place and saw a sink that was a little less disgusting than the rest and he wet a paper towel and quickly cleaned it up with his right hand, before holding Amy by the waist with his left hand and sitting her on top of it with his legs swinging off the side.

"Give me your hand." Shadow said to Amy, giving her absolutely no choice in the matter.

"You don't have to do this." Amy said as she timidly gave Shadow her left hand.

Shadow didn't respond as he carefully cleaned the cuts and scratches with a wet paper towel. Shadow knew he didn't have to help Amy but he needed too for his own sake.

"You should go to the nurse to get it cleaned up properly." Shadow said suggesting when Amy winced in pain. Shadow was no expert but he has had enough scratched knuckles from fights to know how to clean them sufficiently.

"I don't want to." Amy said, stubbornly.

Shadow looked up and as suspected, Amy was pouting her bottom lip and he would've given anything to plant a kiss on those light pink lips but it was too soon. Instead, Shadow smirked and teased.

"Afraid of going to the doctors?" Shadow asked.

Not even embarrassed, Amy nodded.

"Well, you should get over your fear and go anyway if you want this to be bandaged up." Shadow said.

Obviously not wanting to argue with Shadow, Amy changed the subject.

"So, where were you at lunch?" Amy asked.

"I was busy. Why? Miss me?" Shadow asked.

The corners of Shadow's mouth quirked up.

"No." Amy said, lying.

_"Such a little liar."_ Shadow thought.

From the blush coating Amy's cheeks,

"Yes." Amy said. "Were you doing bad stuff?" innocently.

"It's nothing you need to worry about, angel." Shadow said as he was unwilling to give the details and scare Amy away but it was probably too late.

With the rumors about Shadow floating around, Amy most likely had a pretty good idea about who he was already.

When Shadow finished, Amy's hands were less bloody but were still extremely sore from the looks of it. Shadow held them both up with both hands and kissed around Amy's palms gently.

"All done." Shadow said.

Amy thanked Shadow shyly and again when he helped her down from the sink.

"I should go. Tails is probably worried." Amy said.

"Who the fuck is Tails?!" Shadow asked, nearly growling out.

"Why did it sound like she needed to go home to her husband as he watched their 5 kids while she got sidetracked with talking to a friend at the supermarket?!" Shadow thought.

Shadow wanted to know who this person was that would apparently be worried about Amy and he thought she only knew him and his friends.

Shadow's finger nails dug into his palms as his urge to punch something, or someone, increased. Through a red haze, Shadow watched Amy mess with her long sleeves as she mumbled out.

"He's my cellmate." Amy said.

Shadow grinded his teeth together, trying to calm down. "You're not alone in your own cell?" he asked.

Amy shook her head.

"I'll sort it." Shadow said and after a minute of silence then released Amy. "You have to go back to your cell." possibly harsher than he intended to.

"I-I don't know the w-way." She said, a silent question asking if he could show her to her cell.

"Let's go." Shadow said grumbling and walked ahead without waiting for Amy.

Amy's head stayed down as Shadow walked her back to her room as the air was tense while neither of them spoke a word, both lost in thought. Shadow's head was consumed with questions about Amy's relationship with this Tails boy.

_"Did he like her? Most probably. Did she like him? I better fucking hope not! Were they together? Did he touch her? Who is he?"_ Shadow thought.

Shadow had an expression of anger and his muscles were tense so it was no wonder that Amy didn't attempt to make conversation. Shadow wouldn't have been surprised if Amy ran away from him.

When Shadow and Amy reached her cell, she muttered out a quick thank you and went to scurry in but before she could, he took a hold of her right wrist with his right hand. Looking inside, Shadow was a little more relieved to know it was Shaky, who was only sent down because he hacked into a company. It was better than Amy sharing a cell with a rapist or a murderer. Although, it didn't ease Shadow's rage because he didn't want his angel to be in a room with another male let alone sleeping in one.

Sending Tails a furious glare, Shadow threatened.

"You keep your hands to yourself or I swear I'll murder you Shaky." Shadow said.

Tails nodding rapidly on his bed while Amy gasped beside Shadow and he looked at her and saw a small ounce of fear in her eyes. Cursing himself for being so careless with his emotions, Shadow softened and caressed Amy's right wrist with his left thumb.

"I'm sorry for being so angry, angel." Shadow said, tenderly.

"A-are you mad at m-me?" Amy asked, whispering with her head down.

"No. Of course not." Shadow said then ushered Amy into the cell but not before kissing her quickly on the temple.

With the red on Amy's cheeks, Shadow didn't doubt that he had as much of an effect on her as she had on him.

Whilst Shadow walked away to his own cell, he knew that from then on, he'd do whatever it took to protect Amy, even if it cost him his own life as she was too pure for the world and captivated him completely because of it, but most importantly, she was all his.

...

Morning.

Amy started her morning with a bang, literally banging her head on the bunk bed above her. However, the top of Amy's head wasn't the only area in pain as both of her hands stung excruciatingly underneath the make shift bandages Shadow had made using paper towels.

The only bright side was that it reassured Amy the previous day wasn't a dream and that Shadow really did help her after she bumped into him after her work. Shadow didn't laugh at Amy for crying but instead fixed her sore hands and kissed them better. Amy forced down a high pitched squeal as she relived the moment in her head repeatedly.

Unfortunately, Amy didn't see Shadow for the rest of the day after he walked away from her cell. Tails was also extremely quiet, probably from being warned by Shadow, but after a few minutes of Amy trying to get him to talk to her, he gave in and asked her questions about what happened.

Like she did at lunch, Amy looked all around the canteen and the common room for Shadow during dinner but again, he was no where to be found. Amy briefly wondered what Shadow was doing but thought it would be best to not linger on the thought and instead focused on how sweet he was hours prior.

Now it was the next day and Amy was eager to see Shadow. Unable to wait for Tails to wake up on his own, Amy stood on the first step of the ladder and tentatively reached out to shake his left leg over the blanket with both hands.

"T-Tails. Wake u-" Amy said but was cut off.

"I'm up!" Tails said sat up abruptly, while Amy giggled at his flustered state.

"I don't want to be late for b-breakfast." Amy said to Shadow as she jumped from the ladder so he could get down.

Tails raised an eyebrow at Amy's excitement but didn't say anything and they didn't have to wait long before the cell opened and a horde of people walked past them. A wave of nerves washed over Amy like it did every time she was released into what felt like a pack of feral animals.

Preparing to step out, Amy went to toy with her sleeves for comfort but a hand grabbed hers instead. Tails held Amy's left hand in the palm his right hand and quickly walked out of the room towards the canteen, practically dragging her behind him.

Amy looked at their joined hands and frowned, not liking the feeling. Honestly, it made Amy feel a little uncomfortable and gave her very different emotions to when Shadow had held her hands.

Amy tried to pull away and made a noise to show her discomfort but her cellmate just held it tighter, not slowing down Tails' steps at all.

"Do you want to get lost again?" Tails asked, shouting sarcastically so Amy could hear her through the noise.

Wincing at the pain in Amy's injured left hand when Tails gripped it harder, she whined again and tugged.

"It hurts." Amy said, trying to pry Tails' right fingers away with her right hand by attempting to stick her small fingers through the gaps.

"We're here now anyway." Tails said quietly, while letting go of Amy's left hand with his right and looking at its poorly bandaged state with a guilty look. "Sorry."

"It's okay." Amy said.

Tails and Amy proceeded to breakfast, where they were given the same meal as yesterday, porridge and fruit. Seeing Shadow no where in sight, Amy tried not to feel too disappointed in his disappearance but ended up moping while she ate.

With the free time that Tails and Amy had left, they went to the common room and decided to play cards. Unfortunately, Amy didn't know any card games so they just played snap over and over again and she was glad he wasn't a sore loser because he lost quite a lot of times.

Amy felt that Tails was warming up to her and could even say he was her friend and he was definitely less cold to her than when she had first arrived.

...

24 minutes later.

Amy was shuffling the cards for the next round and laughing at a story Tails was telling her when she saw Knuckles and Mighty walking over to them and her eyes widened when she saw Shadow behind them talking to Bark about something that appeared to be serious from the officer's frowning face and Shadow's stoic one.

Shadow looked exactly the same as he did every time she saw him but Amy was still swarmed with butterflies in her stomach at the sight of him standing there. Everyone else forgotten, Amy didn't even realize she was staring until Shadow looked down in Amy's direction and made eye contact with her.

Embarrassed, Amy quickly looked away and stared hard at the cards in her hands, knowing a blush rose on her cheeks. Unable to resist temptation, Amy slowly looked up and released a sharp intake of breath because Shadow was already staring at her with an amused smirk on his handsome face.

"Very subtle." Knuckles said with heavy sarcasm when he reached their table.

Amy blushed harder and looked at her cards again. "H-hi." she said quietly, feeling extremely awkward.

"Don't embarrass her." Mighty said to Knuckles with a glare and then looked down at Amy with a worried face. "You alright, sweetheart? You're going to pass out if that much blood is rushing to your face."

Gratefully, Amy nodded. "I'm fine." she said.

"Sorry, cutie. So what are we playing?" Knuckles asked as he took a seat at the table with Mighty doing the same.

Amy ignored the ever growing list of nicknames people liked to give her and finished shuffling the cards, beginning to give equal amounts to everyone. "Snap." she said to Knuckles.

"Brilliant." Knuckles said grinning, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

They began to play whilst Amy sneaked glances at Tails to see if he was okay. Clearly Tails wasn't as his hands trembled terribly so he didn't have a slight chance at winning.

"Y'know, Shaky. If you keep being all flirty with our little Amy here, Shadow's going to want to do something about it." Knuckles said then put his hands up. "But don't mind me. I'm just trying to save your life."

"T-Tails's not doing a-anything wrong and anyway, Shadow wouldn't hurt him." Amy said to Knuckles and Mighty, throwing a reassuring smile in her cellmate way.

Knuckles and Mighty laughed loudly, gaining the attention of the other people in the room.

"Oh, Amy. You're delusional but don't worry. You're still cute." Knuckles said, patted Amy's head with his right hand.

"M-maybe I sh-should just go." Tails said then was out of his seat before he even finished.

"I think it's probably best." Knuckles said with a sardonic smile.

Amy frowned at how horrible Knuckles was being and said to her friend. "You don't have to go." she said.

Tails shook his head. "No it's okay. I w-was going to take a shower anyway." he said.

Tails left, leaving Amy with the other 2 inmates. Amy was reminded that she hadn't showered for a day and was worried about how she would clean herself in a place full of dangerous men and she assumed there wouldn't be private showers and the mere thought of having to expose herself in-front of strangers nearly gave her a panic attack. Amy could hardly look at herself naked let alone have other people see her.

"What's with the face, sweetheart?" Mighty asked Amy.

Knuckles raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you're sad about Shaky leaving?" he asked.

"N-no. It's not that. It's j-just... I'm scared about having a shower." Amy said admitting, already starting to feel emotional as she thought about it.

"Do you not know how to or?..." Knuckles asked trailing off but jumped when Mighty smacked him on the back of the head with his right hand.

Knuckles turned to Amy. "You'll be okay. Boss wouldn't let anything happen to you." he said.

Amy's eyebrows furrowed in confusion but she nodded anyway, wanting to change the topic of conversation as her smell wasn't disgusting yet so she decided she was going to put it off for as long as possible and then deal with the situation then.

"That reminds me." Knuckles said, running his right hand through his red dreadlocks and then leaning towards her with a straight face. "You should keep a distance from Tails."

Amy's eyes widened at how serious he was being, clear from the use of Tails' real name and not the ridiculous and slightly insulting nickname he usually said. In the small amount of time Amy had known Tails, it was obvious that Knuckles was one to make jokes and probably never take a situation seriously.

"W-why?" Amy asked. _"Was he a killer too? Did he lie?"_ she thought.

"I just don't trust that guy." Knuckles said, making Mighty roll his eyes.

"He's just paranoid." Mighty said.

"No I'm not. I have a gift for sensing these things." Knuckles said, flashing a cocky smile but turning serious once again. "Seriously though, Shadow doesn't like him. So we can't. It's basic best friend code."

"Well, it d-doesn't matter. I don't want you guys t-to be m-mean to him anymore." Amy said trying to sound stern while she narrowed her eyes and pouted her lips but failed miserably as Knuckles and Mighty just chuckled at her.

Deciding Amy wasn't going to sit with the people that scared her cellmate away, she stood up and walked away, resisting the urge to stomp her feet childishly as she did so, but as she wondered away, she realized she had no one else to talk to and nobody seemed all that approachable.

Shadow had disappeared again, not even bothering to greet Amy before he left and she tried not to feel a little hurt and reasoned that he had many more important things to do than to talk to her.

Unfortunately, Amy also couldn't see Bark but she did see a familiar prison officer standing by the wall as he was the beige polar bear male that had escorted her into the prison.

Contemplating Amy's very limited choices, she quickly decided that she'd be safest with Bark and she wasn't about to betray her friendship with Tails by sitting with his bullies, especially if they were going to continue to say bad things about him.

Amy slowly walked to the other side of the room but sped up when she noticed some people staring at her. The officer's facial expression remained neutral, not even acknowledging that she was there until she coughed nervously and his eyes flickered down to her.

"C-can I stand with y-you?" Amy asked Bark shyly.

When Bark didn't respond, Amy was about to walk away to sulk but then saw him give a small, barely noticeable nod, making her entire face light up.

...

1 hour later.

After breakfast, they had more free time but were sent back to their cells so Amy continued to play snap with Tails as she was quickly becoming bored of prison life. The strict routines and the same grey walls were constantly deflating Amy's mood.

Although, Amy would prefer being bored than being stabbed any day of the week.

"I wonder what lunch will be." Amy said, pondering out loud.

Tails frowned. "Probably the same as yesterday." he said maneuvering them through the crowd, though this time not holding her left hand and instead making her grab onto his top.

"Rice and corn." Amy said mumbling, staring sadly into Tails's back.

Then, Tails suddenly stopped walking, causing Amy to bump into him and nearly knock her down to the ground if it wasn't for her tight grip.

Amy rubbed her nose with her right hand. "Oww. Wh-why did you stop?" she asked.

"Angel." a familiar male voice said.

Amy peaked around Tails on the right side and immediately a smile took over her face seeing Shadow. Although Shadow didn't look as happy to see Amy as he was glaring at Tails.

"S-Shadow." Amy said, stuttering.

Shadow looked down at Amy with his eyes softening. "Angel, come here." he said.

Amy's cheeks burned with Shadow's eyes on focused on her, despite the loud room they were in and she didn't hesitate to hurry towards his outstretched hand and take it in her tiny one.

"I missed y-you." Amy said whispering her confession to Shadow without thinking, while looking at his right thumb rubbing circles onto her fingers. That was the only area not covered in Shadow's makeshift paper towel bandage.

"You're too cute." Shadow said murmuring, using his left hand to caress Amy's right cheek.

Amy blushed but her eyebrows knitted together when she saw Shadow's skin at the corner of her left eye and she took his right hand with her left hand and looked at the bruised red knuckles with concern.

"You're h-hurt. How did this happen?" Amy asked worriedly.

"Nothing happened." Shadow said lying, wrapping his right arm around Amy's waist and pulling her to the long line, both having long forgotten about Tails who had ran away a while ago.

"W-were you doing bad things again? Is that why you h-haven't been around?" Amy asked persisted, hoping Shadow wouldn't get angry at her for interrogating him on something he clearly didn't want to talk about.

Amy couldn't help it as she was curious.

Shadow was about to answer but was stopped when she gasped. Behind Shadow, Amy saw a grey mink male prison officer with forest green eyes limp into the room all battered and bruised. It was the same prison officer in charge of Amy's job sector, the one she had told Shadow about.

"D-did you do that?" Amy asked after seeing Shadow turn around and scowl at the wounded man.

"Yes." Shadow said, his answer was clipped so Amy was afraid he was mad at her but luckily, his right arm around her didn't loosen.

If anything, it tightened and pulled Amy closer to Shadow.

"They only put me in isolation for the night though. Are you afraid of me now?" Shadow asked, narrowing his eyes at Amy.

"N-no." Amy said, noticing Shadow's skeptical look. "I f-feel safe w-w-with you."

Embarrassed by her admission and stuttering, Amy stared down at her shoes and kicked the ground lightly.

After gaining some bravery, Amy bashfully looked up at Shadow through her thick eyelashes and saw him already giving her a rare smile. However, it disappeared when footsteps came towards them.

Bark came up to Shadow and Amy. "Amy, your job has changed." he said.

"Really?" Amy asked, shocked.

"Yeah. You're going to work in the kitchen and Mrs. Ginger Dog will supervise you. You start after lunch." Bark said.

"W-why?" Amy asked as she was glad to be cooking but was slightly confused as to why she wasn't moving bricks anymore.

Amy thought she had done a good job.

Bark glanced at Shadow. "I think you should ask him." he said then walked away to his post at the canteen entrance.

Amy grinned at her crush, holding herself back from hugging Shadow tightly and possibly freaking him out.

"You did this?" Amy asked.

Shadow shrugged.

"How?" Amy asked.

Shadow didn't respond, probably thinking of what to say. "Did you ask your friend about me?" he asked.

Puzzled, Amy nodded.

"Then you should have your answer." Shadow said.

Amy tapped her chin with her left index finger. "B-because you're a gang leader?" she asked.

Shadow nodded, making Amy's mouth drop open as she breathed out.

"Woah." Amy said.

"That's why people are scared of me." Shadow said. "That and because of why I'm here."

"Why are you here?" Amy asked.

Shadow chuckled humorlessly. "I think that's enough truth for one day." he said, effectively ending their conversation.

...

1 hour later.

Kitchen.

"Oh my. I can't wait for you to start! I have denied every single inmate that wanted to work here but I just couldn't deny the sweet girl that was always so polite and said her 'please' and 'thank yous." Ginger said, gushing in her thick british accent the minute Amy arrived in the large kitchen.

Amy shifted on her feet, feeling awkward and wondering if the wisteria dog lady was going to start pinching her cheeks.

Once they began to work, Amy decided she had fallen in love with her new job. Ginger didn't watch Amy's every move as she was left to do her own thing independently. In fact, Mrs. Ginger Dog ran in and out of the room as if in a constant hurry.

Amy was given the task to make a large batch of soft bread rolls and although it was an easy task, she managed to make the most out of it.

Amy made 3 different animals, pigs, hedgehogs and bunnies, to give them an option of which one to choose but hoped that they'd still eat them even if they were vegetarian. Shaping the creatures with a smile on Amy's face, she wondered how the other prisoners were going react to the buns and if it would be a positive reaction.

Feeling someone hover over her shoulder, Amy turned out shrieked when she saw Ginger's face extremely close to her own. Ginger stared down at the handmade bread animals with a look of awe.

"These are amazing, pet! People are going to be fighting over them." Ginger said praising with an astonishment, patting Amy on the back with her left hand.

"Thank you." Amy said quietly, frowning in concentration as she stabbed holes in the last bunny to make little eyes with her left hand.

Amy cautiously putting the tray in the oven.

"Is there anything else to do?" Amy asked.

"Finished?" Ginger asked.

Amy replied with a nod.

"I guess you could start cleaning up. I didn't expect you to finish so quickly." Ginger said. "I assume you like to bake then?"

Amy smiled slightly at remembering all the times she'd bring mini muffins to the guards that would be forced to stand outside her house and then her mind drifted to the bread currently baking in the large oven.

"Sometimes I'd make animal bread for the people at the homeless shelter. It would brighten their day and the children love it." Amy said, reminiscing.

Amy's hands paused in scrubbing the counter top as she frowned sadly, thinking about the children as she had promised that she would make hippo bread for them to dip in their soup.

"What's wrong, pet?" Ginger asked, seeing the nearly distraught look on Amy's face.

"I-I won't be there to hand out the bread. The children will be disappointed. I had promised them and now I will have b-broken it." Amy said to Ginger with wide eyes.

Ginger pursed her lips and rubbed Amy's right shoulder sympathetically with her left hand. "I'm sure they'll understand. At least your talents won't go to waste while you're here. I can't wait to see people's reactions to your little bread creatures." she said.

Amy responded with a weak laugh as she carried the dirty equipment to the sink for cleaning with both hands as she appreciated Ginger's attempt to cheer her up but it didn't really work. Baking was just another reminder of what Amy's life was like before being locked up. Now, people outside of prison that would see Amy as a criminal and she knew the parent's of the children wouldn't let her near their children ever again if she ever did get out.

"Amy! Amy!" a familiar female voice said.

Amy jumped in the air and accidentally dropped the large metal bowl on the floor with a loud clatter when she heard her name being shouted.

"I'm sorry for scaring you but I couldn't get your attention after calling your name many times." Ginger said to Amy with an apologetic look.

"S-sorry. I was in another world." Amy said then picked up the bowl with both hands and noticed Bark in the kitchen with them.

Amy gave Bark a small wave as he smiled kindly to her.

"Anyway, Bark just wanted to talk to you." Ginger said, taking the bowl from Amy's hands with both hands.

Bark stepped forward. "I just wanted to quickly let you know that you are moving cells so when you're ready, I'll walk you there." he said.

"W-what?" Amy asked in a cracked whisper._ "Why does everything bad happen to me?!"_ she thought, whining in her head at her misfortune, wondering whether Tails had complained about her to one of the officers.

Amy had made a conscious effort to be a clean cellmate and honestly, it wasn't like she took up a lot of space.

Ginger clapped her hands with a grin, gaining Amy's attention.

"Oh! You can leave early, pet. I'll finish up here." Ginger said.

"Are you sure?" Amy asked.

Ginger nodded in confirmation, already walking away to check on her other dishes.

"Let's go then." Bark said, gesturing towards to door.

Nervously wringing her hands, Amy walked with Bark on the right side through the almost completely empty hallways and to her new cell.

"Why a-am I getting a new cell?" Amy asked, keeping her voice low as to not attract attention from the people around them.

"An inmate told me you were in a cell with someone who has history with your father. I talked to the Governor and we both thought it would be better to move you away from him. You'll also be in a more secluded part of the prison so you won't be asleep surrounded by other inmates. That's why we're walking further." Shadow said.

Amy's eyebrows creased as she looked up at him. "An inmate? Who?" she asked.

"Shadow." Bark said.

Amy's eyes widened at the name.

Shadow knew Tails wouldn't hurt Amy, or at least she thought he did as he was only a hacker, practically harmless, and he was, most importantly, her friend. Though, Amy did remember Shadow's friends expressing his dislike and also him saying he'd 'sort it' when she told him she had a cellmate. Amy didn't realize how serious Shadow was.

"You trust Shadow more than Tails?" Amy asked, very puzzled.

Bark shrugged. "He's a good guy, despite what everyone thinks. He's not given me a reason to hate him." he said.

"B-but everyone's scared of him." Amy said.

Bark raised an eyebrow and lifted his arms in a pose. "Have you seen these muscles? I have no reason to fear him." he questioned with a cocky look, making Amy giggle.

Amy remembered when her father would spend time to make her laugh with his goofy jokes but when she grew up, his time would be spent working so it was up to her to make herself laugh with her own goofy jokes. It wouldn't have the same effect though.

Amy looked around and saw an abundance of unoccupied cells that looked clean and practically brand new, making her wonder why she wasn't put in one of them when she first arrived.

"Am I moving t-to an e-empty one?" Amy asked.

"And we're here." Bark said. "Open cell 101." in his walkie talkie with his right hand.

Bark's complete disregard to Amy's question made her suspicious and even more nervous than she already was. After the cell opened, Amy leaned over and peeked her head in the side to see if it was empty. To Amy's surprise, it wasn't and she was met with a topless Shadow with a smirk on his face.

"Thanks, man." Shadow said.

Amy heard Shadow's words but most of her attention was on his tattooed furred chest. As much as Amy tried to tear her eyes away, she couldn't until she was lightly pushed into the cell and stumbled into Shadow's arms.

"Look after her." Bark said.

"Yes, Sir!" Shadow said saluting mockingly with his right hand after Bark closed the cell.

As soon as Bark left, Amy felt Shadow graze softly over her burning hot cheeks as she was, after all, in the presence of a topless man that had the body of a model. It would be an understatement to say it was be the first time.

"You're always so nervous around me, angel. Your cheeks get adorably pink every time I see you. It's cute." Shadow said.

"B-because you're n-naked." Amy said stuttering with embarrassment, attempting to keep her eyes off Shadow's furred chest.

Shadow chuckled. "I've got pants on." he said.

Amy pouted as Shadow laughed at her and decided to change the subject to avoid any more humiliation.

"W-why did you talk to Bark a-about moving me here?" Amy asked.

Shadow's light-hearted expression disappeared as soon as Amy started to talk.

"I didn't want you staying with that boy anymore." Shadow said then smiled smugly. "Don't pretend you aren't happy to be here, little angel."

Amy was about to flounder a reply but winced when Shadow took her hands in hers. Ginger tried to convince Amy to visit the nurse but after adamantly refusing, she was just made to wear white gloves when cooking the food. Making the bread was painful for Amy still healing hands but she didn't dare complain about it.

"You've not gone to the nurse yet?! I told you I didn't do them very good so they could be infected by now." Shadow questioned Amy angrily, yet his eyes held worry and his actions were gentle when he lifted her hands to inspect them, despite not seeing anything through the paper towels.

"I-I couldn't be a bother." Amy said.

Amy was too afraid and too lazy to ask someone to take her and then walk all the way to there.

Shadow shook his head and walked to the cell doors, before banging the bars with his right fist. "Hey! My girl needs to go to the nurse!" he said.

Scared, Amy tried to stop Shadow by pulling on his left arm with both hands but clearly it didn't effect him as he wrapped his left arm around her waist and kissed the top of her head. Of course, Amy stopped moving at the affectionate gesture and instead gazed happily into space.

Loud footsteps came towards them as the cell opened and a red monkey male with light blue eyes in prison uniform stood in front of them.

"Someone wanted to go to the nurse?" the red monkey male asked with a bored tone.

"She needs her hands checked out." Shadow said to the red monkey male and then turned to Amy to see her looking at him sadly.

Shadow kissed Amy's nose and patted her on the butt with his right hand to urge her forward when she didn't move.

"You'll be fine and it'll be over before you know it." Shadow said.

...

4 minutes later.

Nurse's Office.

"Come in." a kind voice said from behind the white door after the red monkey male knocked on it with his right hand. The red monkey male didn't say much on the way there but it didn't bother Amy at all as she was too panic-stricken to make conversation.

The room looked like the typical doctors room with an examination table, scales and cabinets full of things she didn't understand. A pretty white bat woman with teal-green eyes, most likely in her early 20s, smiled warmly at Amy from behind her desk.

"Hello. I'm Rouge the Bat. You must be the Amy I've been hearing so much about." the white bat woman said.

"H-hello." Amy said, shyly.

"The girl needs you to check her hands." the red monkey male said from beside Amy on the right side to Rouge.

Rouge nodded and politely gestured for Amy to take a seat on the table, which she did after much difficulty.

"Thanks Max. I'll call you when I'm done." Rouge said to the red monkey male.

Once they were alone, Rouge freed Amy's hands from the bandages Shadow made with both hands and Amy winced as they unveiled the sore red cuts, still a little caked with blood.

"Oh no! How did this happen?" Rouge asked, looking at Amy worried.

"I had to p-pick up bricks." Amy said to Rouge, trying not to cry like a baby as alcohol was rubbed onto her skin from Rouge's right hand.

"I see. So I'm guessing prison life has been terrible so far." Rouge said.

Amy shrugged, not knowing how to answer as she had imagined prison to be much worse and frankly, she loved every second spent with Shadow. It made Amy feel alive and everything that has happened so far was much more exciting than the life she had lived before.

"So... do you have a cellmate?" Rouge asked.

Amy realized Rouge was one of those people that needed to fill every silence where as she would rather sit in an uncomfortable silence than force a conversation. Although, a female friend would be nice while being in an all male prison.

"Yeah. I-I just moved into a new cell." Amy said.

Surprise was evident on Rouge's face when she heard this.

"I didn't think they'd put you with someone. You know. Considering you've got women parts and all. That's inhumane!" Rouge said with a frown as she wrapped some clean white bandages on Amy's hands with both hands.

"Who're you rooming with?" Rouge asked.

"Shadow-" Amy said but was cut off.

Amy was instantly cut off by a loud squeal.

"Shadow Robotink?! Oh my gosh! I'm so jealous. You're so lucky." Rouge asked.

That took Amy back as she leaned away from Rouge with a startled expression. Rouge seemingly didn't notice Amy's discomfort while she carried on with her excitement.

"He's so insanely hot and even though he never says anything every time he comes in here, I feel like we have a connection and it's just meant to be. I can tell he can feel it too." Rouge said.

"Do they really have a connection?" Amy asked to herself.

Amy thought she had felt one with Shadow but it seemed that it was just some sort of magic spell he put every woman under. Maybe Amy was delusional and Shadow actually liked Rouge. Amy felt deflated at the thought of they guy she liked, being with someone else.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I've made you uncomfortable. I'll stop." Rouge said when Amy didn't say anything.

"No, i-it's fine. I understand." Amy said weakly, while an unsettling feeling bubbled in her chest.

"I know he looks terrifying and dangerous but he's probably a real big softie. Anyway, every girl likes a bad boy right?" Rouge asked laughing, while Amy had to force one out.

It sounded like Shadow was friendly to the nurse as well, which did not make Amy feel better at all. Amy assumed that Shadow only had a soft spot for her but it turned out that maybe that wasn't the case at all. Amy hated how Rouge thought she needed to tell her Shadow was a softie. I ALREADY KNOW! Amy wanted to scream but just gave a tight lipped smile and jumped off the table when her hands were bandaged up.

"Thank you for helping me." Amy said, more than ready to leave the room.

"That's alright. It was nice to talk to a girl for once and if you ever need anything, don't hesitate to ask. Us girls have to stick together in this place." Rouge said.

_"Ugh. I wish you was mean."_ Amy thought.

...

Evening.

It was near the end of dinner when Amy finally went back to her cell after taking advantage of Rouge's private bathroom. Too exhausted to fight her way through the canteen, Amy decided to skip the food and just go straight to her cell. Maybe Amy could have an early night and fall asleep before Shadow came back.

But unfortunately, Shadow was already in the cell waiting patiently for Amy, this time with a white t-shirt on and a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. Thankfully, it was unlit so Amy hurriedly pulled the cigarette out of Shadow's mouth with a frown with her left hand.

"No! You smoke?" Amy asked.

_"Guess everyone can't be perfect."_ Amy thought.

"Problem?" Shadow asked with a raised eyebrow.

Amy frantically nodded. "Yes! You can d-die from these. You can get cancer. D-don't you care?" she asked.

Shadow shrugged an indication that he didn't care. "Everything gives you cancer nowadays, apparently." he said.

Amy tried to ignore how true that was.

"But, if it bothers you that much, I'll stop." Shadow said.

"I-it bothers me." Amy said, confirming.

Shadow pulled out a box of cigarettes from his right pocket with his right hand and threw them through the bars of the cell. "Then, I'll stop. Now tell how my little chef is doing?" he asked.

"Huh?" Amy asked.

"You made the little bread things right? I mean, it's pretty obvious it was you. People were confused at first, as you naturally are when you see little bread animals being served in a men's prison, but they loved them. Some were even fighting for the last ones." Shadow questioned, looking proudly at Amy.

Amy wondered if Shadow ever gave the same look to Rouge.

"Did you like them?" Amy asked, shyly.

Shadow put his hands on the sides of Amy's waist and pulled her towards him, only she tried to squirm away when she reminded herself that this was not her man as Rouge liked him and she was likely more deserving of him too. Rouge was stunning and obviously not shy and awkward like herself. Amy didn't doubt that Shadow would fall for someone like Rouge.

"Yeah, I loved them." Shadow said then held Amy's chin in his right thumb and forefinger to lift her head up with his eyes meeting hers. "Hey. What's the matter? Are your hands still hurting?" surprisingly softly in his husky voice.

Amy shook her head. "N-no. They're fine now. Rouge bandaged them up." Amy said emphasizing Rouge's name and watched his reaction closely but it didn't really change, though maybe he seemed a little more confused.

Suddenly, it looked like a light bulb lit in Shadow's head as he reached inside his blanket with both hands, which Amy now realized was much thicker than her own, and pulled out a plastic container.

"I know. You must be hungry. Luckily, that dinner lady person sneaked me this because you missed dinner." Shadow said.

Amy opened it and saw some meatballs and spaghetti. When Amy looked up at him in awe, she saw Shadow unfold a ball of tissue to uncover 3 of the buns she made, one in each animal.

"I also took these from Mighty and Knuckles. They weren't happy but whatever." Shadow said.

For the first time ever, Amy felt cared for. After living with people that couldn't care less whether or not Amy went to sleep hungry, it made her a little emotional to know that Shadow, someone who had only known her for a few days, was so considerate of her.

"Why aren't you saying anything? Are you angry I made you go to the nurse? Angry that I didn't try the buns? Because I lied. I got these buns from other inmates and ate 5 myself." Shadow questioned, sitting on the seat in front of a small desk and placing the food on it, before making Amy sit sideways on his lap with her legs hanging off.

To add to more of Amy's embarrassment, Shadow began to feed her the food with the spoon win his right hand.

"I can feed myself." Amy said grumbling, reluctant to open her mouth and give in to Shadow's babying, despite her stomach making very loud whale noises.

Shadow looked at Amy in bewilderment. "But how? You're so small." he asked.

Amy gave Shadow her most menacing glare but unfortunately, it only made him chuckle, which she felt through her entire body as she leaned comfortably on his chest. Sighing, Shadow gave in, making Amy do a little victory dance in her head as she ate the food with a satisfied smile.

...

15 minutes later.

After finishing her little meal, Shadow didn't let go off Amy with his arms wrapped tightly around her midsection so she was practically immobile. Shadow tried to make conversation by asking Amy questions about her favorite books, knowing that she liked to read, but because Amy was disheartened by the knowledge that Rouge was the one that held the key to his heart, she kept her answers short. Amy was eager to go to bed and get away from Shadow's intoxicating smell that she was positive was hypnotizing her.

"Okay. I can't take it anymore. What has got my angel looking so glum, huh? Tell me now." Shadow asked.

From the tone of Shadow's voice, Amy knew he wasn't taking any answer that was less than the truth.

Keeping her head down and avoiding Shadow's eyes, Amy fiddled with the bottom of Shadow's top in an attempt to distract herself from the embarrassment she'd feel in the next few seconds.

"Rouge likes you." Amy said, trying to hide the sadness from her voice.

"And Rouge is...?" Shadow asked, he trailing off.

"The nurse." Amy said mumbling, confused about why Shadow didn't know.

"And you're sad because...?" Shadow asked.

"You like her too." Amy said, concluding.

Amy felt Shadow tuck her quills behind her left ear with his right hand, grazing her left cheek softly whilst doing so.

"I can assure you, my jealous little kitten, that I do not like her." Shadow said.

Finally looking up, Amy saw Shadow looking at her so many emotions that it would overwhelm her to decipher them all.

"A-are you sure?" Amy asked, not even denying that she was jealous.

Shadow chuckled. "Positive. You know why?" he asked.

Amy shook her head.

"Because, I very much like you. I'm completely obsessed with you, actually." Shadow said.

Amy wanted to ask why and how that was even possible but she didn't want to risk sounding like an insecure teenage girl fishing for compliments. So, Amy tucked her head under Shadow's chin and confessed.

"I like you too." Amy said.

Unfortunately, it was said through a yawn, interrupting their moment.

"C'mon, sleepy girl. Let's go to bed." Shadow said, lifting Amy up to her feet with both hands so they could brush their teeth in the tiny shared sink.

Like a gentlemen, Shadow let Amy go first with the little energy she had left.

Amy crawled under the thin blankets of the bottom bunk as Shadow seemed to have claimed the top one with his thick dark blue duvet and white puffy pillow. Amy had reminded herself to ask how Shadow got those in the morning.

"What are you doing?" Shadow asked.

"S-sleepy." Amy said, yawning again.

"You're sleeping with me in the top bunk." Shadow said, walking to Amy with arms out, ready to carry her up to his bed.

"Nooo." Amy said whining, when Shadow pulled away her blanket with his right hand.

"You'll get cold." Shadow said, sternly.

"I'm fine." Amy said, blushing at the thought of sleeping in the same bed as Shadow.

Finally, Shadow's hands stopped tugging Amy away but then a heavy weight fell on top of her. Shadow had covered Amy with his blanket, making her feel like she was in a cocoon of warmth. Shadow proceeded to climb in with Amy and carefully pull her on top of him. Too tired to complain, Amy just snuggled into Shadow's chest.

"Well, I'll get cold. Keep me warm." Shadow said.

"Mmm... Okay." Amy said, smiling to herself. "If you insist."

...

Morning.

It didn't come as much of a surprise to Amy that waking up in Shadow's arms would've been the best feeling she had ever felt. For the first time in a while, Amy's dreams were filled with nothing but good things, fluffy clouds and dancing puppies, and she didn't doubt it was all to do with her handsome cellmate.

Shadow's left hand was on Amy's head and his right hand around her back, squeezing her tightly every so often, as she laid with her face on his chest and her legs tangled with his. A small part of Amy wanted to save some dignity and pull away from Shadow as to not give the impression that she was the sort of person to fall asleep with random men she hardly knew.

However, the larger part of Amy didn't want to move an inch while she basked in Shadow's manly scent and muscled torso with his steady heartbeat singing her into another deep sleep. All of a sudden, Shadow's heartbeat fastened, causing her to open Amy's eyes in shock. Amy buried further into Shadow to fall back asleep but it was impossible when his irregular heartbeat sped up even more.

Amy poked Shadow's chest with her left index finger, maybe a little harder than she should've done because his eyes flew open. Wincing, Shadow let go of Amy's head and rubbed the area with a scowl directed at her, but then closed his eyes again and lifted her up so he could nuzzle into her neck.

"What was that for?" Shadow asked his voice was muffled against Amy's neck, the vibrations making a shiver run down her spine.

"You're heart was beating faster. I-it was disturbing my sleep time. Shh shh." Amy said drowsily, now half asleep.

After hearing no response, Amy peeked her left eye open and because Shadow's face was tucked in her neck, she only saw that the skin on his neck was red. Amy lightly blew on the area, assuming Shadow was just feeling hot.

When the bell rung, Amy's whole body jolted from the noise, feeling unprepared for it every time. Frowning, Amy poked Shadow's t-shirt clad chest again with her left index finger and grumbled.

"Your fault." Amy said, blaming Shadow for her lack of sleep.

"Aren't you just a ball of sunshine in the morning." Shadow said with heavy sarcasm, letting Amy go and rolling out of bed.

As soon as Shadow lifted the covers away from her with both hands, Amy's comfortable warm bubble popped from being exposed to the chilly air. With only a few slightly warm radiators in the hallway, Amy's teeth began to clatter. Amy shuddered at the thought of how much colder it would be outside the prison.

After accidentally bumping Amy's head on the top bunk, she slowly made her way out and stood beside Shadow to roll her sleeves.

"Morning, little angel." Shadow said.

Amy felt a firm kiss placed on the crown of her head as she distractedly mumbled a "good morning." back.

Feeling herself being gently pushed onto the chair, Amy stared up at Shadow with question. Shadow didn't answer and instead knelt down on the hard floor and began to roll Amy's pant legs up with concentration on his face with both hands.

Startled, Amy squeaked. "W-what are you doing?!" she asked.

Shadow stopped and raised an eyebrow at Amy but then continued what he was doing. "What do you thin-? Ah! Fuck sake." he asked suddenly yelled angrily as the pant leg unfolded again.

Amy stayed silent, not knowing how to feel with, arguably, the scariest prisoner in the building kneeling in front of her. The fact that Shadow made an extra effort to make sure they wouldn't fall down warmed Amy's heart to the point that she had to subtly rub her chest in an attempt to calm her racing heart.

When Shadow finished and the doors of the cell had opened, he stood up and coughed, rubbing the back of his neck with his right hand. "Wouldn't want you to trip." Shadow said, gruffly.

...

1 hour later.

After they ate breakfast, the pair went to the common room where Amy read to Shadow some more as he didn't seem all that interested in the book but she didn't really mind as she curled into his chest, his body warmth feeling like her very own heater.

"Angel." Shadow said when Amy finished another chapter.

"Hmm?" Amy asked.

"I'm going to go shower so I'll leave you with Mighty, okay?" Shadow asked to Amy in his deep voice.

Frowning at the page in front of her, Amy chewed her bottom lip as she really didn't want to be apart from Shadow. Amy had grown quite attached to the criminal and a small part of her was worried about the power Shadow held over her already in such a short time.

Shadow's right thumb released Amy's bottom pink lip from between her teeth, before rubbing over the swollen area.

"Have you showered since being here?" Shadow asked.

Shaking her head, Amy admitted. "I've been t-too scared to." she said.

Shadow's left arm on Amy's waist tightened while his lips were pressed in a firm line. "Hm, good. I'll take you now." he said.

Immediately, Amy jumped away from Shadow but due to his left arm constricting her, she only moved about an inch.

"N-now?!" Amy asked.

Sleeping with Shadow last night was far enough, Amy definitely wasn't ready to shower with a guy.

Shadow narrowed his eyes at the distance Amy created with his jaw clenched. "Yes. Problem?" he asked.

Amy quickly nodded her head, looking at Shadow fearfully.

"I'll just keep guard of the entrance. I'm not going to shower with you." Shadow said, rolling his eyes and then smirked. "Though, I'm sure you're dying to."

Blushing, Amy hid her face in her hands while Shadow laughed at her expense and he pulled her hands away and held her left hand with his right hand, intertwining their fingers. Shadow and Amy walked to another part of the prison that Amy hadn't been to but instead of looking around curiously, like she wanted to, she kept her head down and wrapped her right arm around his left arm so she was hugging it to her chest.

As soon as Amy saw a grey walrus male with dark blue eyes dressed with only a towel protecting his dignity, she gasped and pressed her face into Shadow's tree trunk of a right arm. Amy breathed heavily in Shadow's masculine scent to distract her from the pungent smell of body odor.

Shadow didn't stop walking, despite Amy hanging onto him like she was holding on to dear life, but squeezed her small left hand in reassurance, which calmed her down slightly. Amy didn't look up but heard Shadow whisper to someone.

"Get everyone out of there now." Shadow said.

If Amy didn't know who her cellmate was, she would've been terrified of the threatening tone in Shadow's voice. For a brief moment, Amy wondered whether it was a good idea to be so close to the person everyone was afraid of and she was reminded of the time that Tails told her Shadow was the devil.

However, all of Amy's negative thoughts faded away when she felt his rough right thumb softly rub the back of her left hand.

The smell got worse as they walked closer to the showers. Amy heard people hurrying past them and occasionally bump into her, causing her to strengthen her death grip on Shadow, ignoring the sting of pain from her cuts, so she wouldn't be carried away in the crowd.

"Okay angel. You can look now." Shadow said to Amy when they stopped walking.

Amy did as Shadow said and blinked several times to get rid of the blurriness from squeezing her eyes too tight. Although, Amy's body stayed tense and her hands didn't loosen as she took in the dirty tile covered walls and wet floors. The actual showers themselves didn't look too disgusting but they were only separated by short walls that could easily be looked over by anyone taller than Amy. There were 3 dispensers connected to the wall that were labelled with soap, shampoo, and conditioner. A curtain offered some privacy but Amy doubted there was anything stopping some creep from ripping it open while she showered. However, the entire room was empty due to Shadow's command but turning around, Amy saw that there wasn't a lock to door of the room so anybody could walk in.

"You're shaking." Amy said as she felt Shadow press a light kiss on the crown of her head, making her cringe internally as she knew her quills was greasy and probably smelled really bad.

Amy felt her jade green eyes turning glossy."What if someone c-comes in?" she asked with a cracked voice.

"They won't come in. I fucking promise you, alright. I'll stand guard while you shower so there's nothing to worry about." Shadow said cupping Amy's jaw with his right hand and staring into her eyes with conviction so apprehensively.

Amy nodded, knowing she would have to shower eventually anyway.

After Shadow gently pried Amy away from him, he went to a towel rack and passed her a clean white towel, which she clung onto just to keep her hands from shaking. Telling Amy to stay where she was, Shadow walked out to get her clothes but luckily, came back a few quick minutes later so she didn't panic too much. Shadow then told Amy to get in the shower so slowly, she did, closing the curtain tightly behind her but then stuck her head out to see if he was looking.

Seeing that Shadow was standing with his back facing her and his arms crossed, Amy cautiously peeled her grey sweatshirt and pants away, before her undergarments followed. While shivering, Amy rolled them into a ball with both hands and held them out for Shadow to look after.

"The-the door is c-closed, right?" Amy asked to make sure.

Shadow was trying to ignore that Amy was currently naked and chatting with an orange mongoose male with dark brown eyes just a feet away.

"Yes. Don't worry." Shadow said.

Letting out a breathe of relief, Amy turned on the water but screamed loudly as freezing cold water hit her body.

"What happened?!" Shadow asked shouting, sounding panicked.

Shadow saw the plastic curtain move a little bit.

"Nothing, nothing. Don't come in. The water was just cold." Amy said.

After adjusting the water to the perfect temperature, Amy was surprised at how relaxing it was on her quills, fur, and skin, especially now that she could wash away the layer of grim on her body and the grease in her hair.

But, with Shadow shuffling his feet loudly and coughing every so often, it made Amy anxious and too nervous to actually move her hands from covering herself.

"D-don't listen, please." Amy said, shakily.

"What difference would it make?" Shadow asked, chuckling over the sound of the shower.

The blush didn't leave Amy's face as she felt extremely embarrassed with the entire situation. Feeling stupid, she just repeated.

"Please!" Amy said.

Shadow didn't respond so Amy hoped he was covering his ears. But all of a sudden, Amy heard a really deep voice sing.

"Take the shackles off my feet so I can dance. I just want to praise you." Shadow said.

Amy giggled, relaxing her stiff posture as Shadow continued with his terribly awful singing.

Shadow sang throughout her entire shower, which Amy really appreciated, but made it a quick one just to end his singing earlier. It was obvious Shadow only knew the 2 lines because he repeated them over and over again before mumbling the rest of the song as if his incoherent mumbles were the correct words. When Shackles finally finished, his rendition of Twinkle Twinkle was even worse.

But nevertheless, Amy was could hardly stop laughing and when she did stop, the grin from ear to ear on her face would honestly scare anybody who saw. By the time Amy turned the shower off, her cheeks were sore but it was a good feeling. Amy didn't remember ever smiling as much as she did, which was surprising considering the situation.

"You can stop now." Amy said giggling, drying her quills with a towel with both hands as well as she could and then wrapping herself in it after.

"See. All relaxed now and nothing went wrong. That is why you should always listen to Shadow." Shadow said matter of factly, holding out a ball of clothing through the curtain with his right hand. "Put the towel on the floor and then get dressed."

Amy did as Shadow had told her because the shower floor was wet, so assuming she wouldn't use the same towel again, Amy put it under her feet, making it easier to get into the clothes without slipping or getting them wet. Apparently, there was a prison officer in the next room who handed out clothes to prisoners so fortunately, Shadow managed to get Amy's.

Although, Amy was mainly surprised when she put her pants on a found that they had shrunk. Amy stepped out with a worried expression on her face as she looked down at her bare feet, that were unfortunately getting dirty again.

"Shadow?" Amy asked, pulling on Shadow's top.

"Yes, kitten?" Shadow asked turning around and made a face at Amy's feet, before lifted her up and sitting her down on the bench with her feet on his lap.

"Did I grow?" Amy asked with hope and watched as Shadow used a clean towel to wipe her feet with his left hand.

The corners of Shadow's lips quirked up.

"Not at all." Shadow said while putting some grey socks on her cold feet with both hands, making her wiggle her toes afterwards. "I had someone get you some shorter pants."

Amy stared at Shadow with her mouth gaping and scrambled to wrap her arms around his neck. "Thank you." she said whispering, her voice sincere with gratitude.

"I thought you would've appreciated not walking like a newborn deer struggling to walk." Shadow said when he and Amy separated and kissed her forehead.

"Why are you nice to me?" Amy asked, truly shocked.

"You don't deserve to be in here," Shadow said, simply.

...

5 minutes later.

And then it was Shadow's turn to shower, which made Amy nervous to be standing out in the open with no protection. Shadow would be close by but it wasn't like he could actively be Amy's protector while soaping his armpits.

Though as expected, Shadow had a solution and made Amy to keep her left hand on the wall next to the shower curtain so he'd know if she'd move anywhere or if she was taken. It didn't take long before Shadow finished showering and, without warning, walked out with only a towel loosely hung around his waist so Amy immediately looked away with her eyes shut.

When Shadow told Amy that she could look, he was in the midst of putting on his top and her eyes locked in on his torso where a number of tattoos covered his fur and skin and unfortunately, there were plenty of scars that obscured them or were covered by them. Amy wanted to cry at the thought of someone hurting Shadow and also grew quite angry, much to her surprise.

To Amy's dismay, the bell rung so she couldn't ask Shadow questions about either, though he knew she wanted to. Shadow and Amy returned back to their confined cell, which Amy was fine with after Shadow presented her with a book he had taken from the common room, one that she had read before but nevertheless was fun to read.

Shadow and Amy continued with their routine of her reading aloud to him, only this time, Shadow told her he was going to work out in the little area they had by the bunk bed as he normally did before she arrived. It didn't surprise Amy that Shadow would have to work hard for his impressive muscles but it still drew her attention away from the book a few times, causing her to stumble across 1 or 2 of the words and him to smirk knowingly at her.

After a couple of chapters, Amy grew bored and decided to ask Shadow questions to get to know him. Amy laid down on top of the covers and stared up, something she often did at home while contemplating her entire existence.

Amy managed to find out facts like Shadow didn't have a favorite color and didn't have time to watch many films but couldn't get him to tell her whether he liked Knuckles or Mighty more. Amy should've been bored by Shadow's lack of responses but she wasn't. Amy was rather content in just listening to Shadow speak.

"What are your parents like?" Amy asked, curiously.

The sound of Shadow's heavy breathing stopped, indicating that he had stopped doing push ups, and then after a long pause, he said with a flat and emotionless voice.

"I think I've answered enough questions." Shadow said, with a flat and emotionless voice then became soft. "What are your parents like, angel?"

Amy felt her eyes sting a little as a warning of fresh tears coming, she gulped. "Th-they're great." she said.

"Are they the reason you're here?" Shadow asked, softly.

Turning her head, Amy saw Shadow's blurred figure come closer and lay down next to her, placing her head on his chest and running his right hand through her long rosy pink quills.

"How'd you know?" Amy asked with a pout.

"I know everything." Shadow said.

"I-it wasn't even my fault! My sister framed me for stealing a purse and my parents said I had to go for the sake of the family's reputation b-but I went because they said they'd visit. They haven't sent a letter and they haven't even called." Amy said to Shadow brokenly into chest, soaking it with her tears as she recalled the empty promises said to convince her to admit to the crimes she didn't do. "I expected Z-Zinnia's boyfriend, Flare, to visit but he hasn't either. He was the o-only one that was ever nice to me."

Shadow shushed Amy soothingly to calm her down when her breathing became difficult from her heavy sobs but felt something inside her break as she finally admitted to herself that her family never cared about her. Amy hated her father, her mother, and Zinnia for manipulating her and knew she should never have trusted them.

"You know what I think?" Shadow asked and he didn't wait for an answer. "You have the biggest and the purest heart I know and you deserve all the love the whole world has combined and more. If your family can't give you that, they don't deserve you."

Amy closed her eyes as Shadow peppered kisses on her head, making her feel more loved in the cold and dirty prison than she had ever felt with her family.

* * *

End of Chapter 2.

Please Review.

No Flames.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3.

Please Review.

No Flames.

...

Prison Island.

13 Weeks later.

Day Time.

Weeks passed by slowly and the days dragged on. Everyday was boring and not very productive but fortunately, Shadow made everything much more bearable as it was like being stuck in an endless nightmare with the man of Amy's dreams.

Since being there, Amy would smile more and more frequently all because of Shadow and the way he would make her feel. Shadow even made Amy laugh quite often, which was something she didn't expect from Shadow as he was such a grumpy person but in the few times her mood was down from overthinking or just missing the outside world, Shadow would try his best to elicit a giggle out of her, whether telling a corny joke or poking her in the stomach. Apparently, that was Amy's weak spot.

Nevertheless, Shadow would never fail and because of this, Amy found herself liking him more with every second spent with him and they spent a lot of seconds together.

Though a downside with being incredibly attached to him was that Shadow would sometimes leave Amy to do things he knew she wouldn't approve of and it would be unbearable for her. Amy didn't know the details and honestly didn't really want to. Amy had learned not to ask Shadow about it anyway a few days ago.

_..._

_Flashback._

_2 weeks ago._

_Amy cringed at her saliva soaked left sleeve from chewing it with nerves. Waiting for Shadow to return from wherever he was never got any easier. Each time Amy was wracked with nerves, wondering if Shadow would return with more than a couple bruises on his knuckles or if he'd return at all._

_After a grey walrus male officer came to bring Shadow away, he told Amy to stay in their cell and that he'd be back before she fell asleep. Amy didn't doubt that as it was now impossible for her to sleep without Shadow's arms wrapped around her protectively._

_Eventually, Shadow came back with a stony expression on his face until it softened when he saw Amy's watery eyes blinking up at him from her mountain of blankets._

_"I'm here now, angel." Shadow said, sitting on the bed and caressing Amy's soft quills affectionately with his right hand._

_"Shads." Amy said, her bottom lip wobbled while she climbed onto Shadow's lap and snuggled into his neck._

_"Baby, you're shaking." Shadow said, his hands rubbed Amy's back to warm her up._

_There were a few people shouting manically a couple of minutes ago but telling Shadow would only anger him. Drago, especially, would wait until Shadow was out of hearing range before taunting Amy with frightening words every single time._

_Amy always felt vulnerable whenever Shadow wasn't with her yet she didn't want him to feel guilty for spending time away from her. Amy had gotten used to enough people telling her she was too clingy, she didn't want Shadow to get annoyed with her too._

_Instead Amy asked what Shadow was doing and if he had gotten in trouble. It wouldn't surprise her but Amy didn't know which prison officers were genuine from the ones that were manipulated by Shadow as she suspected many of them were the latter._

_"Just doing business, which reminds me." Shadow said then he lifted Amy up to place her next to him while he reached into his pockets and pulled out 5 packs of cigarettes with his right hand and a small box of Smarties with his left hand._

_"Here." Amy said._

_"How did you get these?" Amy asked worriedly, not taking the box from Shadow's hands and looking at them as if they were disease ridden._

_Shadow looked disappointed with Amy's reaction but hid it by eating some of the chocolate himself and tossing the rest in front of her. "Just asked nicely." he said with heavy sarcasm and began changing into his night clothes after hiding the cigarettes on the top bunk._

_Amy swallowed a lump in her throat. "D-did you hurt them?" she asked._

_"Stop asking questions." Shadow said snapping, making Amy flinch, turning his angry expression into one of guilt. "Angel-"_

_"You're a bully!" Amy said shouting and threw the Smarties at Shadow's chest with her left hand, each of them falling on the the ground._

_ Amy quickly laid on the bed with her back to Shadow and the covers pulled up to her neck with her lip jutted out in a pout as her eyes began to water._

_Amy heard a heavy sigh and a few scuffles before the bed dipped with a heavy weight on the bed. A rough right index finger pulled the blanket away from Amy's face, grazing her wet cheeks. _

_"Angel, I'm sorry. Please don't cry because of me." Shadow said, his voice sounded pained as he wiped more tears from Amy's face._

_Maybe Amy was making a big deal out of nothing but she felt like she was finally comfortable with talking to someone and asking questions to initiate conversation. Amy always had a curious personality but it was greatly suppressed with her family's instructions to stay quiet and out of sight._

_Although Amy knew Shadow would never treat her like her family did, she couldn't help by cry at the memories his few words brought back._

_"I just don't want you to be afraid of me if I tell you all the bad things I have done or still do." Shadow said admitting, sounding surprisingly vulnerable._

_Feeling Amy's anger at Shadow decrease, she muttered. _

_"I could never be scared of you. You're my Shadow." Amy said.  
_

_"That's right and your Shadow is extremely sorry for shouting and making you cry." Shadow said, apologizing again and then cooed. "Now let me see that pretty face."_

_Amy felt Shadow rubbing her left cheek again with his right hand and then tapped her nose, which made her smile and slowly turn around to see his handsome face._

_"There she is. My pretty girl." Shadow said, nuzzling his nose with Amy's._

_Flashback Ends._

_..._

Thinking of Shadow made Amy miss him more, despite having seen Shadow earlier as he had told her he had to leave to be able to protect her but it didn't mean she was happy about it.

Amy groaned. _"I just wish he didn't have to do such dangerous things so often!"_ she thought.

Amy slapped herself and rubbed her sore left cheek, mumbling how she wished she wasn't so dependent on Shadow.

"Whatcha' reading, weirdo?" Knuckles asked, jumping onto the couch next to Amy on the right side.

"A book." Amy said, muttering.

"How fun." Knuckles said, unenthusiastically.

"Shadow likes reading." Amy said whispering, feeling the need to defend her books.

Mighty, also reading a book, chuckled under his breath beside Amy on the left side. "He likes listening to you read. There's a difference." he said.

"I think anyone would like reading if they had you all cuddled and pressed up against them." Knuckles said with a smirk.

Unable to think of a good comeback, Amy just stuck her tongue out at Knuckles and Mighty and put her focus back on her book while they laughed. The prison only had a small selection of books but surprisingly, many of them were romance or comedy and a few were philosophical. When Amy asked about it, she was told they weren't allowed to be exposed to anything violent. They didn't want to 'provoke' prisoners, which was very understandable.

Then panic washed over Amy when a shadow settled over her, causing the book to shake in her hands. Amy cherished her personal space, with the exception of Shadow, and grew anxious when someone stood close too her. Mighty and Knuckles never dared to stay too close as per warning from Amy's cellmate.

When the threatening presence of people looming over her didn't disappear, Amy lowered her book and peered up at the 2 prisoners as she recognized neither of them, one was a beige and white eagle male with wood brown eyes adorned in an orange jumpsuit and another one was a bronze orange echidna with cyan blue eyes in grey sweatpants and shirt. Both weren't too menacing looking, though considerably older than herself, so she relaxed slightly yet still on edge in case she needed to make a quick escape.

"You're Shadow's girl, right?" the beige and white eagle male asked with a small frown on his face.

"Say what you need and then leave." Mighty said, growling out.

The beige and white eagle male and the bronze orange echidna male eyebrows were raised, surprised at how quick Amy's protection made themselves known.

"Just curious. I've been in the infirmary for a bit so I didn't believe the rumors this guy was telling me." the bronze orange echidna male said while pointing to the beige and white eagle male with his right index finger.

Amy didn't know how to respond. Was Amy Shadow's girl? Did Shadow even like Amy in a romantic way? Amy was almost certain Shadow did but couldn't be sure as she didn't really want to get her hopes up when she was already falling so deep.

Amy chewed on her bottom lip. "I-I guess we're friends." she said.

The beige and white eagle male and the bronze orange echidna male, including some other prisoners playing cards near them, laughed at the statement.

"Friends with the devil? How's that possible?" a large dark brown monkey male asked snickering, receiving friendly pats on the back from other animal men.

"Even after what he's done?" a bright green shrew with lapis blue eyes asked, raising his eyebrow in a way that looked like he was judging Amy.

Amy looked at them with a puzzled expression as she couldn't believe how hypercritical they were being as many of them must've done much more terrible crimes than have a gang.

"Oh you don't know?" the bright green shrew asked but suddenly let out a malicious laugh, making Amy flinch in the process. "What am I saying? Of course you don't. You wouldn't want to be anywhere near that monster if you knew."

This time, Amy glared at the bright green shrew for painting Shadow in a bad light as he wasn't a bad person at least not to her.

"Shadow's not a monster!" Amy said shouting, surprising everyone but grew shy when she felt the weight of many eyes on her. "A-and I know about Shadow's gang thing." quietly.

"I think you guys should leave now." Knuckles said sternly, already standing up in preparation to use force if needed, making Amy nervous because she really didn't want to witness a fight again.

Lifting his hands up in a defensive position, the bright green shrew stepped back. "I just thought the little girl would want to know that her boyfriend murdered his own family." he said.

The blood drained from Amy's face and her usual rosy cheeks lost all color as the words sunk in.

"W-what?" Amy asked.

"He murdered his family." the bright green shrew said.

_"He murdered his family... Sh-Shadow murdered his family."_ Amy thought.

"Okay, you got what you wanted. Now leave before I make you." Mighty said, challenging the animal men to stay.

"Y'ok cutie?" Knuckles asked, tentatively.

Knuckles crouched down to look Amy in the eyes with his worry evident. With Shadow only being able to leave Amy alone if she had Knuckles and Mighty protecting her, the 2 had grown quite attached to the little inmate and were exchanging looks after the information was unfortunately revealed.

Amy nodded in a trance-like state, only breaking out of it when Knuckles touched her shoulder lightly, which caused her to flinch at the contact. "I-is it true?" she asked, croaking out.

After a suspenseful pause, Knuckles and Mighty eventually nodded and hung their heads in, what seemed like, shame for something they didn't even do. Saving Amy from having to say anything further about it, the bell rung.

"I'm going to g-go." Amy said whispering, faking a smile that convinced no one.

Immediately, Knuckles and Mighty stepped forward and reached for Amy.

"We'll walk you there." Knuckles said.

Amy's eyes widened in fear. Although it wouldn't be the first time Knuckles and Mighty had walked Amy to her cell, she was wary of them and wondered what else they were hiding. If Amy's cellmate could keep a secret so horrid, she didn't even want to imagine what Shadow's friends were hiding.

"N-no please." Amy said, almost begging that Knuckles and Mighty don't follow her. "I want to be alone right now."

Amy didn't hear the reply because she ran out of the common room before anybody could as she needed to see Shadow so he could explain to her that it was a complete misunderstanding. Shadow would tell Amy they were just playing a trick and then hug her and apologize for saying such terrible, horrible things.

But then Amy stopped running and fell the the ground as her legs shook too much to function as she knew in her heart Shadow wouldn't tell her it was a lie though as he would tell her it was the truth. Would Shadow kill Amy for finding out? If it was easy to kill Shadow's family, it wouldn't take any effort at all to murder Amy.

A sob escaped Amy's mouth. Just that morning Amy woke up in Shadow's arms feeling like the luckiest girl to have ever existed for knowing the caring and affectionate side of him. Amy was completely infatuated with Shadow but now, how would she ever look at him in the same way again.

Amy dreaded going to their cell and confronting Shadow but knew she would have to eventually as she never wanted to see him again but at the same time, the very thought made her chest feel like someone was crushing her heart with their bare hands.

Wiping her eyes with her left hand, Amy stood up, knowing the cell doors would close soon if she doesn't make it in time. But, Amy only made it a few steps before she was slammed into a hard wall by a strong force. Clearly their aim was to hurt Amy because they laughed when she screamed in pain from her back colliding harshly with the brick.

Amy struggled against the arms of the unknown dark brown water buffalo male with tawny brown eyes and wears black boots, stranger yet to no avail as her cries for help were blocked by his dirty left hand but he let her salty tears run freely down her cheek.

"Stop struggling, bitch." the unknown dark brown water buffalo male said growling with an eerie smile but all humor disappeared when Amy bit his left hand with all the strength she had.

"Argh." the large unknown dark brown water buffalo male said then flung Amy on the ground with his right hand and kicked her in the stomach with his right foot.

Amy wheezed but smiled in satisfaction when she saw the blood seeping out of the teeth marks on the unknown dark brown water buffalo male's left hand. Trying to stand back up to fight against the unknown dark brown water buffalo male, she leaned against the wall with great difficulty, only to be thrown back on the concrete ground but this time, the man kneeled next to her.

An overwhelming stench of urine and smoke enveloped Amy with every second that passed as it stung her nostrils and burned in her throat so she was positive the smell would be forever imprinted in her brain.

Amy thrashed and yelled loudly when the unknown dark brown water buffalo male's grimy hands touched her face in a nearly delicate manner.

"D-don't touch me! Please don't touch me. Please." Amy said, begging with her eyes squeezed shut.

"If you're wondering, I'm getting revenge on your little boyfriend. He's the reason why I'm in prison and he's the reason I scrub shit out the toilet for 1 penny an hour." the unknown dark brown water buffalo male said, snarling.

Amy cringed at each drop of spit that landed on her face while the unknown dark brown water buffalo male spoke.

"Drago said you were a looker." the unknown dark brown water buffalo male said, looking Amy up and down suggestively, making a disgusted shiver run down her spine. "He wasn't wrong."

Without thinking, Amy spat on the unknown dark brown water buffalo male's face and braced herself for the anger that was sure to come. The back of Amy's head smacked the floor after the unknown dark brown water buffalo male brought his right hand to her left cheek quickly and painfully, slapping her to the point that it made her feel dazed and the only thing she could feel was pain.

As Amy felt herself lose consciousness and her eyelids weigh down, she knew she should've been saying prayers to Solaris or maybe saying her final goodbyes to the parents she hated but all she could think about was how much she wanted to see Shadow one last time.

...

20 minutes later.

Shadow's patience was growing thin as he paced anxiously in the small cell waiting for his Amy to return from the common room and he was already irritated from the ignorant bastards that owed him the money for the supplies he graciously gave them in order to satisfy their drug addiction.

They assumed Shadow was growing soft due to the little angel in his cell, the soft tones and gentle touches he gave Amy would support the idea. But, Shadow wasn't stupid and he definitely wasn't weak. If anything, Amy's presence only made Shadow stronger with his entire purpose now dedicated to protecting her.

With Shadow making it no secret the rosy pink hedgehog girl was his, nobody would dare to say one wrong word about her. People have already made a conscious attempt to avoid touching her, knowing it would set Shadow's explosive temper off, and even subconsciously censored their words in front of Amy, as if she was a child too innocent to corrupt.

Shadow rushed the meeting and was probably too lenient on the inmates but he was eager to see Amy. It seemed that as everyday passed, Shadow was growing more and more attached to the little thing and knew that he'd be very unwilling to let Amy go when the time came.

The love Shadow's father and mother had for each other was something he admired and aspired to have ever since he could remember them. Sweet smiles and adoring gestures were what Shadow thought was normal until he grew up and realized what was around him.

The norm, especially in Shadow's line of business, were fighting couples plagued with jealousy and crying children begging not to be separated from a parent or 2, but his parents were lucky. Shadow's parents had perfection and he wanted it.

Ever since Shadow could understand English, they promised him he would find his angel eventually.

_"She will be the one to take you away from the darkness. She'll be the one to remind you to stop being the devil and be a man."_ Shadow's father said to him once upon a time.

So rather than fighting to live up to his family name, Shadow thought for the family name that would one day belong to his angel, to give her everything he never got and everything she could ever want. Shadow refused to fight who Amy was to him. There was not a single doubt in Shadow's mind that Amy was the angel sent from above specifically for him.

Shadow could quickly see himself falling in love with Amy, despite them not knowing each other for very long at all. Anybody who met Amy would find it difficult not to. Being in the prison amplified emotions, people grew angry easily, grew depressed faster and apparently, fell in love quicker.

A day in prison felt like a month and a week felt like a year. Time went especially slow for Shadow as he had been in the prison for years. Shadow knew it would take Amy longer to get to where he was and he was fine with waiting, as long as he had her at the end of it.

So that's why Shadow was getting ready to break something when the doors began closing and Amy still hadn't returned with the rest of the inmates.

"Oi! Mighty, where's Amy?" Shadow asked, yelling in the direction of Mighty's cell.

"She said she'd walk back by herself she wanted some alone time." Mighty said, a little too nervously.

Shadow's right eye twitched. "And why did she want alone time? What did you do?!" Shadow asked, practically growling out.

"We may or may not have told her the reason you're in here?" Knuckles asked in a questioning tone.

Shadow pushed himself away from the metal bars in shock and worry. Only, Shadow hardly had any time to process the fact that his angel knew the one thing he tried his hardest to keep from Amy. Bark, one that didn't particularly like Shadow yet had a soft spot for his Amy as his men had informed him, walked right into his near breakdown.

"What do you want?" Shadow asked growling out, his right hand running through his quills in frustration.

"Lose the tone inmate." Bark said, narrowing his eyes. "The governors losing his patience with you. If you value that girl at all, you stay out of tr-" but was cut off.

"Officers needed in block D, left corridor. Girl injured. Restraining the prisoner." a grey walrus male said.

For the first time, fear spiked Shadow's chest and the unfamiliar feeling only added to his nervousness.

"W-what?" Shadow asked quietly, though when Bark started walking away, his fear immediately channeled into annoyance at the lack of information he was being given. "Hey! Where are you going? Is it Amy? Is she okay?" he tried not the let the panic show through his voice.

Bark turned around with a forced sympathetic smile. "Sorry, kid. I know nothing." he said and proceeded to jog away to help.

Exasperated, Shadow tugged on his quills with both hands and tried not to scream and he felt powerless because he knew there was nothing he could do but sit and wait for his angel to come back to him.

...

52 minutes later.

It was nearly an hour when the loud screeching of metal on concrete jolted Shadow's head towards the doors. From an hour of waiting inside the tiny room with nothing over than horrifying thought about what could've possibly happened to his angel plaguing his mind, Shadow was more than relieved to see the stunning beauty staring at him with watery eyes and a timid smile.

Shadow's eyes zeroed in on the purple-green bruise that tainted Amy's pale left cheek, covering the bashful pink tint she usually wore. Shadow's jaw clenched at the sight as he grew angry with himself for not protecting Amy like he swore he would.

Shadow moved his gaze to the ground, mentally chastising himself as disappointment flooding him, while the metal doors looked them in.

"Shadow." Amy said, her sweet sounding voice echoed in the silence of the dim cell. "Shadow." her voice now going wobbly.

Hearing the pain in Shadow's voice broke his heart as he couldn't take another second away from Amy and he didn't know why he bothered to try. With 2 large steps, Shadow had engulfed Amy's tiny and fragile body in arms in an unconscious attempt to cage her away from all the danger in the world.

"Angel, I'm so sorry." Shadow said mumbling in Amy's quills, pressing his lips against it affectionately.

"It's n-not your fault." Amy said her voice, too, was muffled as she buried her face in Shadow's chest. "C-cuddle, please." after a while.

Shadow let Amy go, hiding his smile when she clutched onto his shirt with both hands and made a noise of distress. A part of Shadow was aware he shouldn't be happy his girl felt too scared to be a millimeter away from him, but with what had happened, he wanted to feel needed. Shadow wanted the reassurance that he could protect Amy so his heart beat a little faster and his shoulders relaxed when it was clear that her took comfort and safety in his presence.

Still holding onto Amy's left hand with his right hand, Shadow laid on the bed and gently pulled her to him.

"Come here." Shadow said.

Surprising Shadow, Amy released her tight grip on his right hand with her left hand and shimmied out of pants without a care in the world. The white shirt, that was previously tucked into Amy's pants, covered half of her thighs so even if Shadow wasn't respectfully averting his eyes to the top of the bunk bed, he wouldn't be able to see anything anyway.

Amy practically dived into under the covers and wrapped all her limbs around Shadow. Again, Shadow was startled by Amy's behavior because she would usually blush at just the slightest touch around her waist.

"J-just hold me please." Amy said whimpering, rubbing her face on Shadow's chest like a kitten.

"Always." Shadow said softly, holding Amy as tightly and as gently as he could with both arms.

...

5 minutes later.

"The man said it was revenge against you." Amy said.

Shadow and Amy stayed in their positions for a while, neither one needing to fight sleep. Eventually, Amy's grip loosened as she became more comfortable but Shadow didn't want to initiate conversation if she wasn't ready to talk about it.

"I'm sorry." Shadow said, fully meaning it.

Apologizing wasn't something Shadow was used to but knew it would be a common occurrence if he were to have a future with someone as precious as the girl in his arms because it would involve him messing up a lot.

Amy stopped tracing circles on Shadow's chest when he spoke but continued the repetitive pattern again with both hands.

"I d-didn't mean it was your fault." Amy said.

Shadow didn't respond, not wanting to argue with Amy.

"He also knew Dr-Drago." Amy said, stuttering.

Shadow was surprised it wasn't actually Drago that hurt Amy.

"Did he hurt you?" Shadow asked.

Both Shadow and Amy knew what he actually meant as the bruise was visible but other things need confirmation.

Amy gave a barely noticeable shake to the head. "B-Bark got there w-when he hit me. Every- everything went black when he h-hit me. I thought- I thought I was-" she said but was cut off.

"Shh." Shadow said softly shushed Amy, knowing that anymore would break the dam that had been preventing her tears. "You're okay. You're okay."

"I b-banged my head." Amy said, muttering adorably.

Shadow rubbed the back of Amy's head with his right hand and felt a slight bump on it. "Aw, poor kitten. Did that nurse girl check it out?" he asked, cooing while looking at Amy in concern.

Amy nodded pitifully. "Y-yeah. She said to rest a-and." she said then paused to think of more. "That was it."

Shadow rolled his eyes. "How useful." he said.

"Hurts." Amy said, poking her left cheek with her left index finger and wincing after it.

"Stop it, you child." Shadow said, grumbling.

Shadow held Amy's left hand with his right hand to his lips and smothered kisses all over her dainty left fingers.

Moving his head, Shadow hummed against Amy's neck in content.

Gently, Shadow kissed Amy's bruised cheeks and every other scratch on her beautiful skin until he reached her lips, brushing them lightly over his own. Feeling her breath hitch, Shadow looked at Amy's face to see her staring at him in wonder.

"I really like you, Amy. You're mine." Shadow said.

...

Groggy and disorientated, Amy lifted her head off the hard yet comfy chest of Shadow and rubbed her eyes with her right hand, trying to get a sense of where she was and what had happened.

Amy moaned in pain from the throbbing in her left cheek, a reminder of the, no doubt, ugly bruise. But as the previous days events ran through Amy's mind, her last memory left a smile on her face.

She was his? Why did that make her whole body tingle?

Amy squirmed in his arms, only to brush her bare legs against Shadow's sweatpants clad legs. With widened eyes, Amy froze and squeaked in embarrassment, wanting to go away and hide in a very deep hole.

Suddenly the arms holding Amy tightened, forcing her closer to the very person she was trying to get away from.

"Why am I in bed with a tomato?" Shadow asked, groaning.

Shadow smirked and kissed Amy's forehead tenderly. Heat rose further in Amy's cheeks when Shadow rubbed his leg on hers, re-enforcing her embarrassment as she recalled the moment she scandalously stripped out of her pants right in front of him. Amy's mother would be so disappointed.

"Good morning." Amy said whispering but then laughed loudly when Shadow's right hand grazed her thigh in a teasing manner. "Stop. It tickles." giggling hysterically as Shadow wiggled his right hand against her skin.

Shadow let out a husky chuckle, causing Amy's stomach to bubble in a non-gassy type way. "You're cute." he said.

"You so like me." Amy said teasing with no idea where her confidence came from.

"Hmm. Maybe a bit too much." Shadow said, smirking.

After a while of willing herself to get out of the cocoon of warmth and Shadow unwilling to let her go, Amy eventually left the safety of his arms to brush her teeth with her left hand. The worst thing about waking up next to Shadow was having to be self conscious of Amy's morning breath. When she finished, Amy's cellmate brushed his teeth with his right hand in the small sink they shared and then they resumed their previous position as if they couldn't bare to be apart for more than a second.

Which honestly seemed to be the case for both Shadow and Amy.

The bell hadn't rang so Amy cherished the little time they had away from all the other prisoners. It was nice to pretend Amy wasn't trapped in a prison full to the brim with the most terrifying men. Only early in the mornings when it was quiet, could Amy close her eyes and imagine she was spooning with her boyfriend in her cozy little bedroom, looking forward to what they would do later in the day.

_"Oh goodness. Is he my boyfriend?"_ Amy thought.

Amy opened her eyes and looked up at Shadow, who was smiling contently against her right shoulder, completely unaware of her emotional distress.

_"Shadow had said he liked me twice and he often kissed me on the forehead in a, surely, not brotherly way. Would saying it a third time make them official? Why am I so inexperienced?!"_ Amy thought.

Boy troubles should hardly be a priority in Amy's list of worries considering the unnamed brute that tried to do unthinkable things to her.

Amy's body stiffened.

"You okay?" Shadow asked in concern.

Amy's heart started beating faster the more she thought about the man. Nobody had told Amy anything when they saved her and she was in too much shock to form all the questions she wanted answered, let alone actually ask anything.

"What's g-going to happen to that man? Is he going to prison?" Amy asked.

"Angel, we're already in prison." Shadow said, softly.

"B-but." Amy said, struggling to form her words in her current state of worry and confusion. "So he's g-going to get a-away with it?"

Shadow scoffed loudly in return. "That ugly piece of shit is not getting away with anything, love." he said.

Oh how Amy loved Shadow's pet names.

"You'll take care of it?" Amy asked, whispering.

Amy's hands were clutched onto Shadow's hands that laid protectively on her stomach.

"Don't you worry your pretty little head about it." Shadow said.

Amy trusted Shadow more than she thought was capable, despite knowing he may have killed his family. Being so vulnerable at the edge of, what Amy thought, was death, made her realize that she didn't care about what was said about Shadow.

Amy didn't care that people told her to stay away and she didn't care they called him the "Black Wind'. And as selfish and bad as it sounds, Amy didn't care that Shadow may have killed his family because she knew that despite everything, he was the kindest person she had ever known and that's all that really mattered to her.

"Can you kiss me?" Amy asked, her mouth blurted out before her brain could stop it.

Mortified, Amy's shoulders raised up to her ears as she cringed at her own words.

Amy's embarrassment doubled when Shadow choked on air and coughed in an attempt to disguise his laughter.

_"I take it back! I take it back! I take it back!"_ Amy thought.

All of a sudden, everything was spinning. Shadow had spun Amy in his arms and now they were face to face, nose to nose, awkward red-faced tomato to handsome smirking man.

"Do you really mean it?" Shadow asked, rubbing his nose against Amy's.

Shadow was so close Amy could see all the all the different colors in his eyes and the pimple growing on the side of his forehead. The intensity in Shadow's stare made Amy feel a little dazed, like he was hypnotizing her to agree.

And Shadow probably did because despite better judgement, Amy nodded.

Shadow squeezed Amy's side gently yet with warning. "I want words, Amy." he said.

"Yeah, I-I meant it." Amy said, awkwardly.

Cradling Amy's face, Shadow leaned in, causing to close her eyes anxiously. Could Shadow feel Amy's heart beating inside her chest as if trying to escape and just land in his hands?

"Angel, you don't even need to ask." Shadow said then he went in for the kill.

Shadow's lips were softer than Amy expected and he was much more gentle than his character would suggest he would be. Not knowing what to do, Amy just moved her lips along with Shadow's, praying to Solaris she wasn't doing too terribly.

Amy felt a little intoxicated on it as she was glad they were lying on the bed otherwise she was sure her legs would've been too weak to stand.

A soft groan came out of Shadow when he pulled Amy closer, as if her body wasn't already pressed against Shadow's.

As far as first kisses went, Amy could confidently say it was the best kiss she had ever had.

"I honestly don't know how I survived without you." Shadow said, confessing after he and Amy parted.

Amy bit her lip as she bashfully ran her hands through Shadow's quills. "You would probably have to kiss a man." she said.

Shadow snorted. "Unlikely." he said.

"What do you miss about being free?" Amy asked but then instantly regretted it increase freedom was a touchy subject.

There was a long pause before Shadow answered.

"My car. I miss driving. Now that was true freedom." Shadow said.

"I miss sour sweets." Amy said, sounding a little sad but then her mood brightened when she imagined what Shadow's face would look like if he ate an oranges.

Shadow pecked Amy's lips. "When we get out I'll drive you to a sweet shop and you can have all the sour sweets you want." he said.

Knowing it would probably ruin both Shadow and Amy's moods yet it was something that had to be asked, she mumbled nearly inaudibly.

"When do you get out?" Amy asked.

Shadow's light-hearted demeanor darkened, before he rolled out of bed to stand up and stretch his limbs. Amy wondered if Shadow was just going to ignore she even asked her question but he must've saw her dejected expression because he replied.

"It doesn't matter." Shadow said.

"What do you mean it doesn't matter?" Amy asked, completely shocked.

Amy faintly remembered that Shadow had a life sentence but she assumed it was an exaggeration.

_"Did this mean I was just a prison fling to him? There wasn't much choice as far as potential girlfriends concerned so even if he got out at the same time as my, would he just move onto someone else? Was I simply just... accessible?"_ Amy thought.

Amy's gasp of horror caused Shadow to look at her weirdly and she mentally scolded herself for giving him another reason not to date her.

Shadow's voice brought Amy out of her heartbroken daze.

"Hurry up. We need to leave for breakfast." Shadow said.

The tone Shadow used as he rushed Amy didn't make her feel any better.

_"Don't cry, don't cry."_ Amy thought.

Grudgingly, Amy got out of bed wincing as the chilly air hit her skin. It was nearing winter and without radiators in the cells, Amy was dreading how much colder it would be getting in the future.

"Here." Shadow said, placing a shirt in Amy's hand with his right hand.

A white t-shirt was put in Amy's hands. It was Shadow's undershirt that was usually worn under his sweatshirt.

"W-won't you be cold?" Amy asked, timidly.

Shadow smiled softly. "Don't you worry about me, angel. We don't want you getting a fever." he said.

Amy waited a few seconds to see if he'd take it back, before quickly putting the t-shirt on top of her current one and then added her own sweatshirt over everything. After Shadow turned around, Amy quickly changed into her sweatpants. The entire outfit made her look like a large grey marshmallow but at least she was warm.

Though when Amy was allowed to take a much needed shower following the incident, which thankfully, Rouge insisted she supervise much to the disappointment of a creepy prison officer, the short pants that Shadow gave her had to be taken away to wash.

So now Amy was back to the dangerously long sweatpants as she was frowning at them as she unhappily folded the pant legs with both hands.

"Guess I'm going back to holding you tightly so you don't trip over yourself." Shadow said chuckling, not seeing Amy's annoyed expression.

It frustrated Amy that Shadow was acting like he couldn't care less whether or not he would be released at the same time as her. It didn't feel great that Amy was just something to keep Shadow warm while being in prison.

"You ready?" Shadow asked, holding his right hand out to Amy after the doors opening and the bell rang.

Amy nodded wordlessly and stood up, rubbing her hands together as if she was cold in order to disguise the fact she was ignoring Shadow's right hand.

Shadow pursed his lips together but didn't say anything either and walked out. Despite feeling a little mad at Shadow, Amy was still petrified of going anywhere on her own so she quickened her pace to catch up with him.

Shadow placed his protective right hand on the small of Amy's back as they walked but the distance between them was much more than what she was used to.

The unsettling feeling that had found its way in the pit of Amy's stomach made her completely oblivious to the fact that Shadow wasn't actually leading her to the canteen. Amy gave a frightened yelp when Shadow pushed her into a dark unknown room with his right arm.

The air escaped Amy's chest as she heard the loud click of the door locking. Looking around, Amy saw that she and Shadow were now in a tiny storage cupboard with cleaning supplies.

"W-what?" Amy asked in confusion.

It was getting harder to breathe in the enclosed area and it didn't help that Shadow's anger was radiating off him in waves. Amy took notice of the broom that could be used as a weapon if the occasion called for it.

Shadow stepped closer, forcing Amy to back into the wall as he put his hands on the wall either side of her head, effectively caging her in like a frightened animal.

"S-Shadow?" Amy asked.

"Why are you ignoring me?" Shadow asked through gritted teeth.

"I'm n-" Amy said but was cut off.

"Don't lie to me, Amy." Shadow said, calmly.

"When are you getting released? Why do you think it doesn't matter? Am I only a fling to you? Did you really kill your family?" Amy asked, her eyes welling up with tears as she imagined the worst possible answers Shadow could say.

Shadow's beautifully tattooed right hand cupped Amy's left cheek, covering it entirely as his right thumb softly rubbed her muzzle. "I just don't want you to hate me." he said.

At the pure vulnerability in Shadow's voice, Amy's heart squeezed in her chest.

"Please." Amy said.

Amy just wanted answers.

With a sigh, Shadow pushed himself away from Amy and slid to the ground, before gesturing for her to sit with him with his right hand. Shadow and Amy ended up in a comfortable position where he sat behind her with his legs spread and Amy's back resting against his chest.

Amy held Shadow's right hand with her right hand for support, both for him and herself, because something told her it would be a difficult conversation to have.

"Firstly." Shadow said.

Amy held her breath in anticipation.

"You're not a fling." Shadow said.

The way Shadow said the word "fling' in disgust almost made Amy laugh.

"You mean everything to me." Shadow said.

Amy smiled to herself as Shadow kissed the left side of her head lovingly.

"I don't want you worrying about when I'm being released. We'll worry about it when the time gets closer but I don't think we should be counting down the minutes we have left together. Do you agree?" Shadow asked.

Amy couldn't disagree with Shadow's logic so she nodded.

Shadow pulled Amy closer to the point she could feel the rise and fall of his chest through her back.

"I'm sentenced for life in prison for killing my family." Shadow said.

The surprised gasp that escaped Amy made both her and Shadow wince. Amy was shocked she reacted in that way as she had already been told what Shadow's crime was. But, it was much different hearing Shadow confess for himself.

Amy gulped. "W-what happened?" she asked.

Shadow groaned and laid his head on the right side of the wall, looking like he couldn't believe he was actually telling Amy.

"I guess we should start with who my family are." Shadow said.

"My mother, Maria was the most loving and caring mother you could ever ask for. But, that didn't mean she couldn't keep my father, Jules, in line." Shadow said then let out a painful chuckle as if the memory hurt him. "The most feared gang leader would gladly bow down to her every whim. I respected my father immensely for the love he wasn't afraid to show and the fairness he gave his men. He was an amazing leader and an even better father."

"They sound lovely." Amy said, whispering.

Amy could feel Shadow nod behind her.

"They were. I never wanted to disappoint him but that day I did. I was getting reckless with our deals, losing money and losing men. He called me into his office that day and told me that if I didn't get my act together, Mephiles would take over the gang. We had rivals and he had gotten the location of them. It definitely got him bonus points." Shadow said.

"Mephiles?" Amy asked.

"My best friend, or I guess you could say brother. My father saw a fourteen year old kid smoking in the streets without parents. He took him in and Mephiles became family to us." Shadow said, laughing tauntingly. "And then he goes and kills my family. My little brother was only eight, Amy. M-Manik was just a kid."

Shadow's voice wavered and Amy could only assume how much it must've hurt him to talk about his brother in the past tense.

Amy pressed her lips together to stop them from wobbling as she wanted to be strong for Shadow so he could be weak.

"He asked me to play with him but there was an altercation with one of our weapon shipments and dad sent me to check it out. It was a complete waste of time and if I was there." Shadow said then paused before saying in a much stronger voice. "If I was there, I could've saved them."

_..._

_Flashback._

_4 years ago._

_"Shadow? Come home now! Something's hap-" a female voice asked but was cut off.  
_

_Several gun shots sounded in the background before the line went dead. Tears stung in Shadow's eyes at the fear in his mother's voice, something a son should never hear from his mother._

_Conscious of the animal men staring at Shadow curiously as they awaited orders, he sniffed nonchalantly before putting his phone away and told them that they were being attacked at the base while striding to the red car._

_Fortunately, they went through a more secluded route to the house so they weren't caught in the busy traffic that would usually happen mid-day. In less than ten minutes, Shadow was at his family home, quickly noticing the dead men on the drive way and the blood coating the ground._

_"I'm sure they're fine." Paulie said matter-of-factly._

_Though Shadow hardly registered his words._

_Shadow strode into the house with his gun pointed at every moving thing with his right hand, only to find that everything that had once moved, was now dead, staining his mother's cream colored carpet._

_Shadow's head snapped to the direction of his father's office at the sound of something smashing. Ignoring everything else around him, Shadow ran into the room, unprepared for the horrific sight in front of him._

_His mother,Maria, and brother, Manik were both laying unconscious, swimming in their own pool of blood. A deep pain buried itself in Shadow's chest as the contents from his stomach threatened to make an unwelcome appearance._

_"Oh shit. No. Please no." Shadow said, mumbling through his left hand. "No!" louder, his voice cracking._

_"What happened, Shadow?" a familiar male voice asked._

_Shadow whipped around to see Mephiles with a gun in his right hand and mock sympathy on his face. Shadow's father, Jules, was tied on the floor with duck tape covering his mouth and wet tears streaming now his face. The usually well put together leader looked like Mephiles aged 20 years in just a few hours._

_"You? Why would you-?" Shadow asked with betrayal dripping from his voice but cut himself off. _

_Shadow blinked several times to make sure he wasn't hallucinating because he just didn't want to believe it. Never would Shadow have imagined his best friend of many years to be pointing a gun at him in a room of his murdered family._

_"You mean, why would you?" Mephiles asked emphasizing, much to Shadow's confusion._

_Bang._

_With no remorse to the man that saved him more than once, Mephiles shot Jules in the head in an execution manner, giving no hope to Shadow that his last living relative would survive the fatal wound._

_Shadow didn't even have time to process his mourning, nor the police sirens in the background, when Mephiles pointed his gun to Shadow but instantly, the grieving man shot him repeatedly in the chest until there were no bullets left._

_Seeing him fall, Shadow took the gun away from Mephiles with his right hand and shot him with it again to take out his anger._

_But when Mephiles stopped responding, Shadow's anger swiftly switched to sadness and he was choking on his tears. Shadow's knees buckled, dropping him to the ground in the middle of his entire family, all with blood spilling out of them. Shadow begged hysterically for them to wake up and he sobbed and held his left fist to his chest as if in physical pain._

_For the first time, Shadow yelled for someone to help him, he yelled for anyone to help him, but nobody did. Instead they saw the blood on Shadow's hands and the gun by his side, and arrested him for the murder of his family._

_Flashback Ended._

_..._

Amy could hear Shadow sniffling and see him lift his arm, no doubt to wipe his tears and by the end of the story, she was doing the same.

Although, it wasn't a story, it was real life and it had happened to Shadow and he had to go through that all on his own and it physically crushed Amy that she couldn't take his pain away.

"If only I had gotten there sooner. They'd still be alive. Manik would be 12. They put me away to think about what I had done. They called me a monster." Shadow said hoarsely, his grip around Amy weakened and he sounded exhausted from just reliving the memory.

Amy turned around and knelt in front of Shadow, crying harder as she saw his red tinged eyes and broken expression. Placing both of her hands on Shadow's face, Amy forced him to look at her and swallowed the lump in her throat.

"Shadow, look at me. None of it's your fault. None, okay? Please stop blaming yourself." Amy questioned.

Shadow gave Amy a small smile and rested his forehead on hers. "You didn't stutter." he said.

"Because I'm not afraid of you. And you shouldn't be too." Amy said, truthfully.

Realizing that Shadow was right.

...

Day Time.

"He's changed." Ginger said.

Amy looked up from the chocolate cake batter she was happily making and up at Ginger, who was grating cheese into an enormous pot of macaroni with both hands. After seeing the meal they were preparing for the inmates, Amy was more than eager to witness their reactions.

"Who has?" Amy asked.

Ginger gave Amy a fond smile. "That Shadow boy. I heard you and him have got a thing." she said.

Blushing, Amy ignored the teasing tone in Ginger's voice.

"W-What do you mean he's changed? I don't think so." Amy asked.

Ginger waved her right hand dismissively. "Oh please. That boy was trouble before you were here. There were regular fights and all sorts of negative energy brought into the prison, more than there should've been. He was very quiet but still caused chaos. Kind of like fire-spreads instantly."

"Shadow's a jerk." Amy said, mumbling.

"What, pet?" Ginger asked.

Startled out of her unusual thought, Amy shook her head.

"N-nothing. Carry on." Amy said, quickly.

"Hm. Well, now he's such a sweetheart and he's actually smiling too. Maybe not to other people but with you, oh goodness, it just warms my heart. It's the little things he does that shows how much he loves you." Ginger said gushing, while hastily rushing around the kitchen to gather vegetables for her soup.

Amy was disheartened to hear how miserable Shadow had been but it put a smile on her face to know that now she was around, he was happier, even if it was a little bit. Shadow was just a moody person in general and honestly, it was a part of his personality Amy wouldn't want him to change.

"Like what?" Amy asked Ginger to elaborate.

Ginger paused her actions briefly to think about her answer, before grinning widely. "There's this cute thing I noticed when I would look to see where you are in the canteen." she said.

This made Amy a little emotional as she knew Ginger didn't do this to be creepy as she did this to make sure she was okay and she wasn't lying unconscious underneath the circular dinner tables next to the forgotten peas and chips. Ginger wanted Amy to be safe and the little girl had never felt such motherly care from a person, not even from her own flesh and blood.

"Oh why are you getting teary eyed already, pet? I've not even told you the cute part." Ginger asked huffing and wiped the lone tear that had fallen out of her eye with a tissue.

Amy laughed off her awkward overreaction and shrugged. "I'm on my period." she said.

"Oh no. That explains why you've been eating the left over chocolate every time you think I don't see. Don't forget, I can always sneak you some painkillers if you need them." Ginger said, sympathetically.

"Thank you, Mrs. Ginger." Amy said as she sheepishly pushed the empty chocolate wrapper away from her with both hands.

"No worries, pet. Now, back to the story. After I see you and your Shadow boy get food and then go to your little table at the back of the room, he always takes the first bite out of your food." Ginger said.

Amy pouted in disappointment. "N-no, that's just because he's greedy." she said.

Ginger shook her head, chuckling. "There was an incident a week before you arrived when most of the food was contaminated. Luckily, only one person got hurt and that was Bunnie, who usually helps me and that was why I needed the extra help. So, Shadow tries your food first because he's testing to see if it's poisoned. He'd rather risk his own life than yours." she said returning to making dinner nonchalantly as if she didn't just tell Amy that not only was there risk of food being poisoned, but that she also had a personal food tester that put his life on the line three times a day just for her.

"He'd die for me?" Amy asked, breathing out in shock.

_"Yep. Definitely falling in love with him."_ Amy thought.

"I think it's pretty obvious that boy cares about you a lot, Amy. Now, enough about that. Stir this macaroni for me please." Ginger said.

...

2 hours later.

Because the prisoners had been loving Amy's desserts, dinner times had become increasingly chaotic, especially during the beginning as everybody rushed to get the first pick. So when Ginger spoke of Amy's struggle, she gladly offered her help in serving.

Amy liked seeing the barely contained delight when the inmates received their slice of chocolate cake. Hardly any of them would thank Amy but they didn't need to for her to see the gratitude. They were also much nicer to Amy now because of her cooking and barely any showed rudeness towards her.

"Enjoy!" Amy said cheerfully, showing she was definitely more relaxed in prison.

The elderly red monkey male with dark blue eyes looked at the cake Amy put on his tray with her left hand and appeared to salivate at the sight of it. The elderly red monkey male flashed Amy a toothless grin before joyfully walking away.

Next was a badger with fading green fur and yam orange eyes and Amy recognized him from the time he refused a brownie while everybody else fought for them. Amy later found out the faded green furred badger male was allergic to chocolate so when she presented a small carrot cake, he looked genuinely surprised.

"I-I heard you're a-allergic to chocolate so I made you c-carrot cake." Amy said shyly, holding the plate of small carrot cake to the faded green furred badger male with her left hand.

The faded green furred badger male felt incredibly stupid with the way he was staring incredulously at Amy but then he masked his expression with annoyance. "Don't want it." he said.

Without her control, Amy's face dropped and her head fell with disappointment. Amy went to retract the plate before embarrassment filled her even more but before she could, a right hand snatched it away.

Shadow shoved the plate into the faded green furred badger male's chest with his right hand and growled out. "Eat the fucking cake." he said.

The faded green furred badger male speed walked away from Shadow's glaring eyes, while holding tightly onto the cake with his right hand, much to Amy's satisfaction.

"Hello." Amy said, now used to Shadow's bad temper.

"Hi, Angel. What have you made for us today?" Shadow asked with a charming smile that made Amy's heart flutter.

"Chocolate cake." Amy said cutting out a larger slice for Shadow with her left hand, hoping that nobody noticed her favoritism.

"Thanks. You nearly done?" Shadow asked.

Amy nodded.

"I'll wait for you at the table." Shadow said.

Amy served a few more people but as the line began to die down, Ginger told her that she could leave whenever she wanted. Not wanting Shadow to wait too long, Amy decided to serve Tails first before putting her white apron away with both hands.

Tails walked in front of Amy with the same nervous look he always had whenever other prisoners were around. Amy waved at Tails with her left hand and gave him the slice of chocolate cake with her right hand, visibly lifting his mood as he thanked her.

Seeing that nobody was waiting behind Tails, Amy thought they could talk. Amy hadn't talked to Tails in a while considering Shadow and his friends hated him and vice versa.

"H-how are you?" Amy asked, shyly.

"Great. Been enjoying your cooking." Tails said complimenting, which was rare of him.

Amy's cheeks heated. "Mrs. Ginger does most of it." she said.

"Don't be so modest, Amy. I'll see you around." Tails said.

"See you later." Amy said waving, before going back into the kitchen to hang up her apron with both hands.

...

5 minutes later.

Shadow was being annoyed when Amy arrived at their table with her tray of food. Though, Amy knew Shadow wasn't too angry with her when he still ate a bite out of her macaroni and her cake. Amy appreciated it but it didn't mean she wasn't sad to see her food go.

From left to right, Shadow and Amy ate their food in silence and while her eyes wondered around the canteen as she ate, she saw out of the corner of her left eye that he was putting some of his food onto her plate.

"W-what are you doing?" Amy asked.

"Eat up." Shadow said.

Amy mentally shrugged and continued to eat as Shadow sulked beside her for a reason unknown to her.

...

20 minutes later.

After, Shadow and Amy went to the common room and he made himself comfortable on the couch that nobody else seemed to use anymore. Shadow grabbed the book Amy hid under the beige pillow with his right hand.

"Come here." Shadow said, patting his right knee casually with his right hand.

Smiling, Amy cuddled into Shadow's chest and took the book from him with her left hand to find the place she had last read.

"What's wrong?" Amy asked Shadow, unable to just ignore his sour mood.

"Just didn't realize you were still friends with Shaky." Shadow said, grumbling.

"Oh. Well, he was the first person I met here." Amy said reasoning, looked up at Shadow.

Shadow still had a grumpy pout, causing Amy to have to stifle a giggle but just to make him smile, she pecked his lips. Amy was less shy about kissing Shadow now but it was just as exciting every time.

Shadow chuckled and then kissed Amy again, deepening it further. "Aren't you adorable." he said, stroking Amy's pink muzzle with his left hand.

Amy tucked her face under Shadow's chin, nuzzling into his soft Shadow-scented sweatshirt.

"It's so cold." Amy said muttering when a shiver ran through her.

"Yeah. It's snowing outside." Shadow said.

Amy gasped and went to look out of the barred window but accidentally bumped her head to on Shadow's chin. Shadow let out a pained grunt while Amy was too excited to acknowledge the injury.

"Goodness! It is snowing!" Amy said squealing, wiggling around with eagerness.

Shadow held Amy's hips firmly to stop her from moving and then tenderly rubbing the top of her head that hit his chin, checking for bumps.

"You act like you've never seen snow before." Shadow said.

Amy's lips pursed in suppressed sadness. "We didn't get snow a lot where we lived and if it did, I-I wasn't allowed to go outside and play in it." she said.

Shadow furrowed his eyebrows. "Why not?" he asked.

"It wasn't lady like apparently." Amy said shrugging, remembering when her mother would sneer at the little children that would play in the snow. "B-but when there were the rare times I was feeling particularly brave, I w-would sneak out for 5 minutes to gather some snow in a cup and bring it back to my room."

Amy was sort of a rebel back then.

Shadow's right hand grazed Amy's left cheek softly. "That's sad." he said.

Amy gave Shadow her best pleading expression and even placed feather-like kisses on his jaw a couple of times to coax him into agreeing, knowing it was his weakness. Yet, Shadow couldn't agree anyway.

"I'm sorry, Angel, but they don't let anybody out when it's snowing. It's dangerous. Stuff happened last year and it got messy." Shadow said but it didn't lessen Amy's sorrow.

Amy's shoulders slumped as she sadly rested her head back on Shadow's chest, staring wistfully at the snow falling outside that now coated the yard.

"Really?" Amy asked, whispering.

Amy felt Shadow's large right hand cover her entire head, holding her close to him in comfort.

"Yeah. I'm sorry, Amy." Shadow said.

"That's okay." Amy said, giving a defeated sigh and opened the forgotten book back up again.

"Oh by the way, I have to go outside later because I've got a clean up job. They always get a group to shovel the snow after break." Shadow said to Amy.

"Wait, you get to go outside?" Amy asked.

"Yeah but it's not like we're playing around making snow angels." Shadow said.

By telling her this information, Amy had no idea why Shadow didn't expect her to want to go outside and beg him until he agreed. In all the time Amy had spent in the prison, most of it was indoors and there was only a handful of times Shadow deemed it warm enough for them to spend their break time in the yard. Amy was starting the feel enclosed in the small building and despite being trapped in every sense of the word, she didn't want to feel trapped.

...

30 minutes later.

After much persuasion from Amy and hesitance from Shadow, he finally gave into her persistence and said he'd talk to one of the prison officers about adding her to the team. A lot of them liked Amy anyway so it wouldn't be difficult.

"It's going to be freezing and they won't give you extra clothing so I'm going to get some from a person I know. You have to wear everything I give you with no arguments." Shadow said, ordering.

Shadow's authoritative voice automatically made Amy respond.

"Yes, sir." Amy said.

"Don't be cheeky now." Shadow said, tapping Amy's nose with his right index finger. "I don't want you getting a cold."

_"He's so sweet!"_ Amy thought.

"You'll only give me a cold." Shadow said.

Amy glared at Shadow with a pout, which of course, he quickly made disappear.

...

2 hours later.

Amy put on the last pair of socks her cellmate had forced her to wear. Although reluctant at first, Amy was much more welcome to the idea when Shadow warned her that her toes could freeze and fall off in the cold.

"You ready?" Shadow asked, giving Amy a once over.

Shadow pulled Amy's sweatshirts down before nodding in satisfaction.

"I think this may be too much." Amy said as she demonstrated her arms struggling to move.

Shadow looked Amy over again but eventually shook his head with absolute certainty. "Nonsense." he said.

"I'm kind of struggling to b-breathe." Amy said.

Amy was sure that Shadow had taken the prison's entire extra supply of clothes. Despite the frosty air blowing heavily through the window in the cell, Amy was sweating profusely and she was sure that her 5 layers of clothing would soon show sweat patches.

"Fine, you can take 1 off." Shadow said, rolling his eyes and assisted Amy in taking a layer off.

...

5 minutes later.

Once it was time, a grey walrus male officer came and collected Shadow and Amy. From left to right Shadow and Amy walked past the jealous inmates that wished for some fresh air, he was holding her left hand with his right hand. Though if the height didn't give it away, they probably didn't realize who she was as Amy felt she was disguised pretty well in all the material she was under.

As soon as the doors opened to the outside, a blast of cold air hit them. Amy mentally thanked Shadow for forcing the layers onto her but when her shoes touched the white snow, she forgot all about the goosebumps forming on her skin.

Amy stared at the falling snow in awe, having never been so close to so much of it. A layer of snow had coated the tops of the walls. It concealed the grass and concrete, glistening as the Sun's rays hit the floor.

"It looks like tiny crystals." Amy said, whispering.

"You cold?" Shadow asked.

Shadow sounded concerned but Amy paid no attention as she carefully crouched down, smiling as her hands touched the cold snow.

"Oi! You're here to work." a brown otter male with dark blue eyes prison officer said, yelling from across the yard, which caused Amy to hit the ground, bottom first.

A husky laugh reached Amy's ears when Shadow helped her to her feet with both hands and wiped the snow off her.

"Let's go grab a shovel, clumsy." Shadow said.

Knuckles and Mighty were already shoveling the snow away from pathways when they arrived. A red fox male with olive green eyes guard Amy hadn't seen before was supervising them but he was mainly playing on his phone from what she could tell.

Although it was hard work, Amy was enjoying herself quite a lot, especially in the company of her friends and with the snow lightly falling on top of them.

"You doing okay?" Shadow asked.

Shadow hugged some warmth into Amy's fur and skin, which she appreciated considering her face was feeling numb from the cold but the smile still hadn't left her face since seeing the winter wonderland.

"This is the happiest I've ever been." Amy said, admitting quietly.

Shadow shivered as Amy rubbed her ice cold nose on his neck, attempting to reduce the redness and look less like Rudolph.

"I think you'll be happier in a few seconds." Shadow said.

"Huh?" Amy questioned.

"Angel." Shadow said while carefully getting out a small, slightly crushed rose out of his right pocket with his right hand. "I found this over there and I thought you'd like it because... well, your last name is Rose so you should like it."

Amy couldn't hide the beaming smile on her face even if she tried, which she didn't because she wanted Shadow to know how much the small gesture meant to her.

Amy could tell he didn't do romantic gestures often because the redness on Shadow's cheeks wasn't just from the cold but she didn't comment on it to spare him from further embarrassment.

Amy delicately took the broken flower Shadow with both hands and cradled it delicately in her palms.

"Thank you." Amy said.

Shadow ran his inked right hand through his quills, a nervous habit Amy had caught him doing in some occasions. "You see the thing is, I heard that when you ask someone to be your significant other, you're supposed to give them flowers." he said.

_"Am I going to die? Why is my heart beating so fast? I think I'm a little faint."_ Amy thought.

"So, now that I've done that..." Shadow said.

Amy's breathing stopped when Shadow's right hand lovingly held her face and stared at her with adoration, while her heart was beating ten times faster than it should've been.

"... Will you be my girlfriend?" Shadow asked.

Amy giggled as her hands went to cover her mouth but her laughs still escaped, much to Shadow's disbelief.

"Why the fuck are you laughing?" Shadow asked frowned at Amy with concealed hurt.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I just laugh at serious situations and I can't help it." Amy said stroking Shadow's right cheek with her left hand, still struggling to contain her laughter. "But, yes. If you still want me, I'll be your girlfriend." shyly.

Shadow grinned widely, more than he ever had before and enveloped Amy in bone-crushing hug. "I'll always want you." he said while Amy inhaled his scent, feeling just as ecstatic as he sounded. "I l-"

"Get back to work!" the brown otter male police officer said.

The new hedgehog couple sighed at the interruption from the irate brown otter male prison officer and pulled away from each other.

"What were you going to say?" Amy asked with a smile, not letting the brown otter male prison officer ruin her mood.

"It's nothing." Shadow said.

* * *

End of Chapter 3.

Please Review.

No Flames.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4.

Please Review.

No Flames.

* * *

4 weeks later.

Day Time.

Shadow shook his head as he let out a rare lighthearted laugh upon seeing the pout on Amy's face, silently complaining about having to go with him.

"Stop pouting, little kitten." Shadow said, rubbing Amy's right side with his right hand as they walked.

"Do I have to go with you? T-Tails was going to teach me how to play chess." Amy asked, whining with pleading eyes directed at Shadow.

Shadow and Amy were going to the prison gym and quite frankly, Amy was terrified. A gym in general was the last place Amy ever wanted to be, let alone a testosterone enclosed room with sweaty prisoners but unfortunately, her boyfriend was adamant in keeping her close to him at all times.

"I have to work for this body that you love so much." Shadow said smirking, winking at Amy.

Heat rushed to Amy's cheeks knowing that her appreciation for Shadow's perfectly sculptured body wasn't as subtle as she thought.

"I don't love it." Amy said, mumbling weakly.

Thankfully, Shadow let the topic go when they arrived at the gym, probably in fear of Amy finally breaking to pieces with all the embarrassment he subjects her to. A person can only take so much.

Eyes followed the couple as soon as Shadow and Amy entered the room, all pausing their actions just to gawk at them. The room wasn't a particularly large one with the amount of people and equipment all cramped together. A musky scent of sweat made Amy wrinkle her nose in disgust while she hid her face in Shadow's arm, attempting to feel less exposed.

It was only after Shadow glared at the silent room that people carried on with their activities and averted their eyes from them.

A few prison officers stood by the walls but their wary looks at Amy's boyfriend didn't make her feel any safer.

Shadow led her to a small rusted bench in the corner of the room and gestured for Amy to sit, which she did.

"You stay here and keep your eyes on your little book. I'll be right over here. Okay, angel?" Shadow asked caressing Amy's left cheek with his right hand was a gentle expression, much to shock of some of the prisoners that failed to mind their own business.

Too afraid to speak, Amy quickly nodded her head and opened her book with shaky hands. Amy heard Shadow sigh, which was followed by a loving kiss on her head.

"You'll be okay." Shadow said, assuring for the last time before going to lift weights.

Amy chanted his words in her head like a mantra, unable to focus on her book at all. Despite having gotten used to being surrounded by dangerous criminals and knowing that many of them were actually not as bad as Amy once thought, the odd threatening looks some still gave her caused fear to return to her all over again.

Amy breathed slowly out of her mouth and closed her eyes tightly to calm her frantically beating heart. Usually Shadow would be right by Amy's side to comfort her with just his presence but he was otherwise preoccupied.

Since meeting Shadow, he and Amy hardly had any time apart unless he had important and very suspicious meetings with other prisoners or prison officers. Amy wondered what Shadow had been doing before she was there and figured he was most likely spending his time in the gym.

Amy felt extremely guilty to disrupt the normal routine that Shadow was use to for 4 years so she forced herself sit through the next half an hour.

...

15 minutes later.

Shadow strode over to Amy with a murderous look in his eyes and held his hand out to pull her to her feet with surprisingly gentle actions. Shadow's left hand went around Amy's waist when her legs wobbled with nerves.

"Wh-what's wrong,Shadow?" Amy asked, quietly.

Shadow's possessive hold tightened around Amy while she desperately sought comfort in him after the anxiety she felt just moments before as she nudged him for an answer as the silence lengthened.

"They were staring at you." Shadow said, growling through gritted teeth and then grumbled more quietly. "And you also looked terrified."

"Thank you for looking after me, Shadow." Amy said smiling appreciatively up at Shadow and stood on her tip toes to kiss his clenched jaw. "You r-really don't have to worry so much. You'll die early."

Shadow's lips quirked up in amusement as Amy looked down at her white trainers and fiddled with her fingers shyly.

"I'm sure there are plenty of other things that will kill me before stress does." Shadow said.

Amy hummed in agreement. "It's a good thing you quit smoking." she said musing before adding with a guilt heavy voice. "S-sorry you didn't get to have your gym time."

Keeping his left hand on Amy's lower back, which effectively made her skin heat up a little as Shadow's left thumb rubbed repetitive circles, he noticeably relaxed since leaving the prison gym.

"Well now I've got you, I don't really need to go anymore. You'd still like me with a pot belly, right?" Shadow asked, nudging Amy teasingly as they both looked down at the area of his top that concealed his abs.

Amy pouted. "I guess so." she said, mumbling.

Shadow rolled his eyes at Amy playful smile but nonetheless kissed the top of her head as they headed inside the cell she weirdly called her home.

...

6 minutes later.

Amy watched Shadow curiously when he got a thin blanket and laid it on the ground. Despite neither of them cleaning the concrete floor as regularly as Shadow and Amy were expected to, it was definitely better than Tails's cell. It wouldn't have surprised Amy if Shadow had someone clean their cell for them.

"Lie down." Shadow said.

Amy looked at Shadow in confusion but just decided to do as he said and laid on the blanket he set down for her. Amy played with her thumbs as her eyes wandered around the ceiling, waiting for further instructions but then her view was obstructed by Shadow carefully laying over her, holding himself up with the hands he placed on the ground on either side of her head. Amy sucked in a breath at Shadow's unexpected actions.

"W-what are you d-doing?" Amy asked, stuttering with pink tinting her cheeks and the tips of her ears.

"Working out." Shadow said smirking then proceeded to casually do push ups over Amy, pecking her lips each time he went down.

Amy giggled as Shadow did so while pausing to pout her lips for a kiss, eagerly lapping up the affection.

"Silly." Amy said laughing childishly whilst Shadow's muscles caged her in place.

If Shadow wasn't kissing Amy, she was sure she would've been completely distracted by his arms as his veins became visible under his tattooed skin every time they tensed. There was something else pressing into Amy's leg that was also very distracting but she chose not to focus on that.

Shadow's kissed the tip of Amy's nose, unfortunately causing to hold her breath and desperately hope she wouldn't sneeze on him.

"I don't see you complaining, Angel." Shadow said in a deeper than usual and huskier than usual voice as he looked down at Amy's thighs that were very noticeably rubbing together.

Humiliation flooded Amy immensely, leading to the rest of the time being in silence. As weirdly as it sounded, Amy just stared into Shadow's crimson red eyes, not even realizing how creepy it would be. All Amy was aware of was the adoration that shone clearly through the way Shadow looked at her back. A simple look had Amy in awe, much more than any affectionate action could.

Most of the time, Shadow wasn't conscious of the doting expression he'd give Amy yet a burning warmth would erupt in her chest every single time. Amy would never doubt Shadow's feelings for her because they were as clear as day for everyone to see, whether deliberate or not.

And Amy really loved Shadow because of it.

...

1 hour later.

After waking up from a short nap and seeing that Shadow had placed Amy in their bed with a cocoon of blankets wrapped around her, she found him reading her book and looking extremely attractive as he did so.

Unfortunately, it was a crime story and Shadow ended up ranting about his annoyance with the leading character. Clearly Shadow had some experience in crime.

Shadow and Amy were now asking each other questions. Getting to know each other while cuddling in the freezing cell was basically the only way to past the time that appeared to expand every day.

"When's your birthday?" Amy asked the question that seemed to be a overdue considering they have known each other for months now.

Shadow brushed away the wispy baby quills that were irritating Amy's face with his right hand. "19th of June. What about you?" he asked.

Amy frowned as she tried to remember what day it was. "It has already past." she said sadly, recalling that she was imprisoned in the beginning of August. "What did you do for it?"

A piece of Amy's heart broke when Shadow laughed as if it were the most ridiculous question she could've asked.

"Nothing." Amy said.

Shadow stopped laughing when he saw the sorry look Amy gave him. "Don't look too sad. I got you for a birthday present." he said.

Amy blushed and slowly nodded. "I wish I could've gotten you something b-better." she said.

"There's nothing better in my opinion." Shadow said, giving Amy a look that told her not to argue with him.

Amy broke eye contact and curled herself into Shadow's chest with her head tucked under his chin. "My birthday is the 23rd of September." she told him.

"A few weeks before Sweetest Day. Very fitting." Shadow said.

"How?" Amy asked.

"Well, you're just a little sweet pink rose aren't you. My angel is such a cutie." Shadow said as he tickled Amy's sides with both hands, which was followed by her squirming off his lap as she laughed at the torture.

Though Amy's time away from Shadow was only brief as he pulled her back to him non too gently. Luckily, Amy's Shadow was a comfy person and he cushioned her fall.

"I'm so excited for Christmas!" Amy said squealing with a sudden burst of excitement.

Amy gazed out of the small barred window and saw snow falling from the sky as it had been doing continuously for days now.

After Shadow heard Amy's story about snow days at home, he stole some cups from the canteen and balanced them on a ledge outside of their window. A few days later when Amy was extremely depressed about being cooped inside, Shadow surprised her with three cups full to the brim of fluffy white snow. It was a little bit of the outside brought into their miserable grey room.

That was the reason they had a partially melted snowman on the edge of their window.

"They don't really do anything here you know. Just some carol music instead of the classical shit they put on now." Shadow said tiredly, laying down with his right arm over his eyes.

"Let's do something then. W-we can decorate the cell. Oh please can we decorate the cell?" Amy asked, getting more and more excited with the idea as she straddled him and patted her hands on his chest as if it were a drum.

Shadow grabbed Amy's wrists with both hands as his eyes still closed as she thought he had fallen asleep.

"You can decorate the cell. I'll take a nap." Shadow said.

Delighted, Amy immediately got off and went to the little desk where she stashed the colored paper and pens she took from the common room, which of course she asked a prison officer before taking. Ideas flowed in Amy's head as she felt more and more ready to turn the drab room into a magical winter wonderland fit for a Santa's grotto.

...

Tomorrow.

Day Time.

"I can't believe you made Christmas cards." Shadow said grumbling in Amy's right ear while they walked to the canteen for dinner.

It seemed that Amy's boyfriend couldn't believe anything that happened after Shadow woke up with paper chains and paper snowflakes hanging from the ceiling. Their room wasn't very high as well so Shadow was made to bend his neck to avoid the decorations Amy created. Shadow had obviously learnt his lesson after seeing Amy's teary eyes when he walked into a snowflake chain and broke it in pieces.

With the limited space Amy had to decorate, the decorations didn't take as long as she thought and because Shadow was still asleep while the creative juices were still flowing in her brain, Amy decided to make some Christmas cards for her friends. They were flimsy and poorly designed but thought that it was better than nothing.

Amy only grinned at Shadow's grumpiness as she clutched tightly onto her cards with both hands. Amy felt both excited and nervous, knowing that her art skills were nothing to be proud of.

"I'm sure they'll love them." Shadow said encouragingly when he saw Amy's look at the cards for the 10th time since leaving the cell.

"I h-hope so." Amy said, whispering.

Shadow and Amy lined up for their meal as usual and as soon as Amy reached Mrs. Ginger, she shoving the card in front of her with her left hand and over the boiling hot carrot and sweet potato soup.

"I-it's from Shadow too." Amy said, ignoring Shadow's scoff.

Ginger's eyes widened in surprise and confusion before she cautiously took the folded piece of paper with her left hand. Once Ginger's eyes landed on the green Christmas tree, her face melted as she awed.

"Oh goodness, this is beautiful. Thank you so much, pet. Here, have extra soup. Oh you're such a sweetheart." Ginger said gushing, pouring the soup into Shadow's and Amy's bowls.

Ginger seemed to get more emotional as she looked down at the rosy pink hedgehog girl while she dabbed her eye with the bottom of her apron.

Amy smiled bashfully and waved goodbye. Now she definitely didn't regret making her cards, especially if all the reactions were going to be similar to Mrs. Ginger's.

Shadow and Amy walked to their table with a tray full of food and a pile of cards still left to give out. From left to right Knuckles and Mighty were already eating their meal when from cards were thrown in front of their trays and a grinning rosy pink hedgehog girl sat next to them with an expectant look on her face.

"What's this, cutie?" Knuckles asked with a raised eyebrow.

"C-Christmas card." Amy said, smiling sheepishly.

"Thanks." Mighty said, smiling slightly while he read the words Amy wrote in the card.

"I meant what's this thing you've drawn?" Knuckles asked.

"Don't be so fucking rude." Shadow said, snapped beside Amy on the right side.

Amy looked at the brown blob with antlers on the paper Knuckles held with his right hand.

"R-Rudolph." Amy said, admitting.

The doubt in Amy's own words was obvious.

"It's shit." Knuckles said but as soon as Shadow went to stand up with the intention to hurt his friend. "But it's beautiful and I love it. Thanks so much, cutie." quickly.

Amy became embarrassed. "You're welcome." she said, quietly.

Amy placed her gentle right hand on Shadow's tense left arm in hopes that he would relax, which he did when he saw her give him a genuinely happy smile.

"I think mine's great." Mighty said, commenting.

"Yours is 2 circles and a smiley face." Knuckles looked at the snowman card, before tossing it away from Mighty with his left hand. "Hey! Why does he get a kiss in his card?" shouting.

Shadow's head snapped to Amy's with a glare. "Why are there kisses in the cards?" he asked, growling lowly.

"It's a British thing?" Amy asked with a meek smile.

Shadow huffed childishly. "Your kisses should only be for me." he said, murmuring

Amy laughed nervously at the look Knuckles and Mighty gave their boss.

"Oh look, there's Bark. I'll be back." Amy said then kissed Shadow's left cheek and speed walked to the beige polar bear male prison officer before he could stop her.

Bark graciously took his card with his right hand, saying that he would hug Amy if he could as he too got a little emotional over the small paper. Amy also had to give Bark 2 other cards with her left hand for both the Governor Erazor Djinn and the blonde hedgehog male with blue-green eyes prison officer.

Amy found that the Governor Erazor Djinn was really friendly and genuinely cared about the prisoners. Every month, Amy would be sent to Erazor Djinn's office to talk about her time in the prison and if there was anything that he could do to help. Amy thought he deserved a card and made sure to give him the one with Santa drawn on the front labeled with 'Governor Erazor Djinn'. Amy thought it was funny.

Despite having spent some break times standing with the blonde hedgehog male prison officer, Amy didn't know his name as they never talked but when neither Shadow nor her friends or Bark were there to protect her, the guard's presence offered some comfort in a room full of criminals.

Amy returned to the table after feeling Shadow's gaze burning into her back throughout the conversation. Shadow wasn't happy but with the smile plastered on Amy' face, he let it go and kissed her softly on the lips.

...

15 minutes later.

Shadow and Amy finished their food with a pleasant aura surrounding the table. Although, Amy hadn't forgotten about the cards she had left. Amy found Tails in the common room and though he was nervous with Shadow by her side, he didn't run away immediately. Tails instead awkwardly took the card from her with a shocked thanks.

"Happy now?" Shadow asked as Amy settled herself on his lap, feeling exhausted from the day they had.

Amy yawned and nodded her head. "I've still got one more to give." she said then gave Shadow the last card she took the most time in decorating with her left hand.

It really tested Amy's art skills but she hoped Shadow would appreciate the effort.

"This is for you." Amy said whispering, laying her head on Shadow's chest.

"You didn't have to make me one, Angel." Shadow said in astonishment as he gently touched the small pieces of paper Amy glued on to look like snowflakes with his right hand. "I don't deserve you."

"Read it." Amy said, mumbling into Shadow's chest.

"Dear Shadow, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas (especially with me). Lots of love, from your angel (Amy). P.S. I'm really glad you're my boyfriend. XOX." Shadow said.

Amy turned a shade of red when Shadow read it out loud but was too tired to care. Amy faintly felt arms holding her close to a warm body and a pair of lips kissing her left hand and the top of her head. The last thing Amy did with her remaining energy was whisper.

"I really mean it." Amy said before falling into a comfortable state of unconscious in the arms of the only person she loved.

...

A few days later.

Amy bit her lip and stared down her opponent with what she believed was an unreadable poker face. Without breaking their eye contact and with him adorning a quizzical expression, Amy pushed the wooden castle forward a space with her left hand.

Tails shook his head in silent laughter before casually knocking over Amy's second to last remaining chess piece with his right hand, putting it directly in line with her King.

"Checkmate." Tails said, smugly.

Amy huffed and folded her arms with a pout on her lips as she glared at the chess board, silently reprimanding the Queen that had gotten herself captured early in the game.

"I-I think you cheated." Amy said.

Tails rolled his eyes at Amy and began to set the board up again with both hands. "Don't blame me just because you suck at chess." he said.

"You're j-just bad at teaching." Amy said, countering playfully.

It was times when Shadow was away that Amy really appreciated having a friend such as Tails. Innocent conversations of common interests took Amy's mind away from the bad things her boyfriend was doing.

"Whatever, Princess." Tails said snapping but with the amount of time they spent together.

Amy could now easily hear the humor in Tails' voice.

"So where's the devil then?" Tails asked.

Amy feigned obliviousness with a tilt of her head to the left side. "I d-don't know who you're talking a-about." she said.

Tails rolled his baby blue eyes. "Your boyfriend. The love of your life. Your sweet Shads darling." he said.

"Hey!" Amy said immediately yelling, unfortunately attracting the attention of an older, ornery looking dark brown male cat with coin grey eyes prisoner, which caused her to give an apologetic smile at his scowling face.

"I only called him that once in front o-of you." Amy said animatedly with her left index finger wiggling in Tails' face.

"Only because he told you not to do it again." Tails said.

"Didn't have a problem with it in private." Amy said, mumbling.

Ignoring Tails' confusion at Amy's inaudible words.

"He's doing secret things." Amy said.

"Do you know these 'secret things'?" Tails asked.

Amy didn't like the judgmental tone in Tails voice but decided against commenting about it.

"Of course I do. He tells me all his secrets." Amy said, simply.

And it was true. Shadow didn't really keep secrets from Amy and told her whatever she wanted to know. Only, Amy found that ignorance was in fact bliss and it helped her to sleep a lot easier when she wasn't aware of the dangerous activities Tails was doing.

Shadow was currently trading chocolate for more pillows as they planned to make a pillow fort for Christmas. Shadow and Amy realized getting a Christmas tree in their cell wouldn't be possible.

"Well, as long as he's looking after you." Tails said with a surprising amount of care that made Amy's heart warm in her chest.

"Aw Tails." Amy said gushing as her face melted at the sight of a blush rising up her neck. "T-this is why you get the best Christmas p-present."

Actually, Tails got the fourth best but Amy wasn't going to let the details ruin their moment.

At least, Amy thought it was a moment until a sadness took over Tails' face.

"I- I'm not going to be here at Christmas." Tails said, sounding just as shocked to be saying it as Amy was hearing it.

"A-are you dying?" Amy asked.

Amy's eyes were already stinging with tears as she looked at her first cell mate twiddling his thumbs in front of her in his orange jumpsuit and moving his signature twin tails.

"No. I'm getting out early. Good behavior apparently." Tails said, smiling sheepishly at Amy's gaping expression.

"H-how come you didn't say anything? And- and what about Christmas?" Amy asked, sadly.

Amy's felt so guilty that she wasn't as overjoyed as she knew she should've been. Amy really tried to mask her sadness but knowing her inability to hide her emotions, it probably didn't work.

"I only found out yesterday. But do you know what this means? I get to spend Christmas with Cream!" Tails asked then his face lit up when talking about his girlfriend.

After being so opposed to talking about Tails' personal life for so long, Amy persisted in getting him to open up and when he did, the guy wouldn't stop talking about his childhood sweetheart. It was the only time Tails openly talked with a relaxed, comfortable smile.

Realizing this, Amy jumped out of her seat with her arms wide open and thankfully, Tails was too caught up in his excitement that he wasn't too shy to meet her in the middle where they embraced each other with enormously large grins on their faces.

"That's what you've always wanted, Tails. I'm so happy for you." Amy said, giving Tails a tight squeeze to express her point and he squeezed her back.

"I can't believe this is finally happening." Tails said croaking, clearly feeling emotional and Amy didn't blame him as she too was getting teary eyed.

A forced cough broke Tails and Amy apart.

A pair of black and red masculine arms lay on the curves of Amy's waist and pulled her to a hard chest where she met angry yet beautiful crimson red eyes.

"Everything good here?" Shadow asked while he swiped the pad of his calloused right thumb under Amy's wet eyes, sparing a warning glance at Tails.

Amy sighed happily and rested her head on Shadow's chest. "Everything's perfect."

...

A few days later.

Morning.

"Merry Christmas!" Amy said squealing happily in Shadow's right ear but then yelped when he flipped them over so he was lying over her with his head on her breasts.

"5 more minutes." Shadow said, his deep voice raspy with sleep.

"But it's Christmas now." Amy said weaving her hands through Shadow's quills before attempting to tug his head away from her but he just groaned and nuzzled his head further into her chest, sending heat straight through her body like an electrical current.

"Comfy." Shadow said, mumbling tiredly.

As eager as she was to start the day, Amy felt bad for waking Shadow up so early and she knew the reason he was so tired was because she kept him up so late with reading Christmas books together and singing carols to get them in the festive spirit. Shadow was a really good hedgehog.

Looking down at Shadow's peacefully sleeping face, free of frowns and scowls, Amy loved the way he didn't even hesitate to let his guard down in front of her. When he was with Amy, Shadow took off the mask that earned him the name of a devil and was completely vulnerable, resting in her arms like an innocent baby.

_"How did I get so lucky?"_ Amy thought.

She brushed the quills away from his face to kiss the top of his head lovingly and whispered, "I guess we can have a few more minutes," before being lulled to sleep by his calming, rhythmic breaths.

...

4 hours later.

With a full belly of turkey and pudding, Shadow's large warm right hand was on Amy's stomach as his right thumb rubbed soothing circles under her shirt. Amy was snuggled comfortably on his lap at the very back of the room with Knuckles and Mighty at their side. Shadow and Amy's eyes, along with a room full of other prisoners, were on the film being played on the wall from a cheap projector.

Although the room was still bleak and very gloomy, the prison clearly made an effort and possibly much more than other year if the surprise of the prisoners were anything to go by. There was a small poorly decorated tree in some of the rooms and a few fairy lights were glued onto the highest ceilings. In the morning, they even handed out Santa Claus hats, which Shadow wore all day.

Around her, Amy heard the sound of people still nibbling onto their cookies. Despite all jobs being cancelled for the day, Amy insisted on spending an hour baking and decorating the multiple different shapes of cookies she had planned on a little piece of paper. In the end, there were trays and trays of trees, snowflakes and mittens, all carefully drawn on with plain white icing. Once Amy was most excited about was making the gingerbread men look like inmates and prison officers, though she did hope they didn't take offense. Luckily, every single person loved them and even with the large amount she made, all the cookies disappeared very quickly.

A week prior to Christmas, Amy had to ask the Governor Erazor Djinn's permission to make something she deemed would brighten the low spirits of everyone as it wasn't part of the regular meal plan. Thankfully, Erazor granted it and Amy was free to make her cherished special recipe of hot chocolate, adding all sorts of spices and creams to the drink with a candy cane straw.

Amy had never seen so many people happy in one place and the gratefulness she felt from some of the prisoners was clear. Many were missing their families and were depressed about spending the most wonderful time of the year confined in the worst place in the world, but apparently with Amy's help, it was much better than it would've been.

The film ended with many sad sighs as they were ushered back to their cells. Amy let out a tired yawn and wrapped her arms around Shadow's neck, making no move to stand up and face the bitter cold. Unfortunately, Shadow and Amy had to leave. So with the strong arms she appreciated so much, Shadow stood up with Amy still in clinging onto him like a koala bear, supporting her with his hands on her bum as she wrapped her legs around his waist.

Amy wasn't even fazed by the movement as Shadow gracefully and carefully carried her away as she hid her neck in the crook of his neck after waving goodbye to their friends and wishing them a merry Christmas.

"Is this a piggy front?" Amy asked, whispering as the thought suddenly came to her head.

Amy's boyfriend paused in Shadow's steps before chuckling lightly and continued walking.

"I guess it is, you weirdo." Shadow said, teasing.

In response, Amy bit Shadow's neck and licked the reddened area before giggling evilly in his right ear. Shadow hoisted Amy up and tightened the grip on her bum.

"Little devil." Shadow said, muttering.

Shadow and Amy's cell was still covered in paper decorations, though less than there was originally due to Shadow's head hitting most of them off. Now Shadow and Amy had an extra sheet hanging off the top bunk bed, creating a cozy hideaway with fluffy pillows lining their bed.

"Going down?" Shadow asked, kissing the crown of Amy's head.

When Shadow received no reply, he slowly laid Amy on the abundance of blankets and climbed in after her. Amy's hands clasped onto Shadow's shirt as whined from the loss of warmth so he gingerly pried her hands away and kissed them, putting a giddy smile on her face.

"My angel's feeling snuggly today isn't she?" Shadow said cooing, running his right hand through Amy's quills as she nestled herself into his side.

After the hectic day, Shadow and Amy spent the rest of it in the quiet and peaceful ambience of their home-made fort. Shadow read to Amy 'The Christmas Carol', a present that Bark had given the day before, and he did so much more enthusiastically than he anticipated. Amy had to stifle her laughter every time Shadow changed his voice for a character and then later forget which character had which voice.

"Thank you for the best Christmas ever." Amy said, leaning closer to Shadow's lips for a kiss, having missed them touching her own for the short time they were apart.

Shadow's lips brushed Amy's.

"Thank you for being here with me." Shadow said, huskily.

Shadow and Amy's lips met in a passionate dance, moving in sync with each other as a burning fire traveled between them and fizzed in their veins. Everything Shadow and Amy were doing felt natural and it felt right, as if while they were together, they could do no wrong.

When Amy began to grind against Shadow in a confused effort to get rid of the feeling inside her, he pulled away and rested his forehead on hers while his left hand rested on her left hip and his right hand on the curve of her neck.

"Fuck. We need to stop." Shadow said, groaning with his eyes still closed.

"Why?" Amy asked, breathing heavily as she wiggled her hips a little.

"Stop, Amy. You're killing me here." Shadow said rasping, looking pained.

"Sorry." Amy said giggling and then pecked Shadow's lips quickly.

"I-It was supposed to be your present." Amy said quietly, now feeling embarrassed by her actions.

"You know." Amy said, drawling.

Shadow shook his head slowly, making Amy's roll her eyes.

"Doing it." Amy said.

"What was?" Shadow frowned.

"You know." Amy said, drawling.

Shadow shook his head slowly, making Amy roll her eyes again.

"Doing it." Amy said.

"Doing what?" Shadow said.

Amy narrowed her eyes at Shadow's confused expression but obviously in his line of work, he had learned to hide his emotions so she didn't know if he was just messing with her or not.

Amy let out a exasperated sight. "Sex." she said, whispering rectuctantly.

Amy pout when Shadow laughed loudly.

"You're bloody adorable." Shadow said.

"W-well, I take it back now." Amy said.

"As much as I'd love to 'do it' with you." Shadow said sniggering at Amy's glare. "I don't want our first time in prison. I don't want Bark running in here thinking I'm murdering you."

Shadow smirked and Amy blushed brightly but understood where he was coming from. Apparently, there was a time and a place and prison was not it.

It didn't mean Amy wasn't disappointed though. After all, the entire week consisted of Amy mentally preparing herself for losing her virginity in a prison cell on Christmas day, something she never thought would happen.

"Since you gave me such a thoughtful gift, which I will hold you to once we're out of here, it's only right I give you a gift in return as it is my duty as your lovely boyfriend." Shadow said, declaring before reaching in some sort of secret compartment of the cell with his right hand.

If Amy went looking for all Shadow's hidden things, she would probably find them easily but she didn't like snooping and more often than not, he'd randomly have surprise presents for her too.

From behind his back, Shadow presented a small ugly white and brown cow toy stuffy with his right hand. The white and brown cow animal was completely random but it reminded Amy of the ones she had before prison and she knew it must've taken tooth and nail to get a stuffed animal. Amy took it from Shadow shyly with both hands

"Th-thank you." Amy said, whispering.

Amy felt like it was a grand moment that should be cherished and not broken with loud sounds.

_"This is the first gift from my boyfriend!"_ Amy thought.

"I-I got you something too." Amy said quietly and brought it out of her own little secret compartment with her left hand.

"Thank you, angel." Shadow said, taking the red origami flower from Amy and held it delicately in his hands. "Is this what you've been doing while I was away?"

Amy nodded with a proud smile. Since Amy couldn't go out and buy gifts, she decided to make some and it turned out that Mighty knew origami. With little persuasion, Mighty agreed to teach Amy thus came the origami flowers and animals.

"Mighty treat you okay? He wasn't too much of a harsh teacher was he? You can tell me, angel." Shadow asked, seriously.

"He was a great teacher, Shadow." Amy said, finding Shadow's constant worry extremely cute and it made her laugh.

Suddenly, Shadow groaned and ran his hands over his face with an exasperated sigh.

"You deserve so much more than some ugly toy." Shadow said.

Amy gasped and held the white and brown cow close to her chest, patting it's soft head. "It's not horrible." she said.

"I just wish I could be a proper boyfriend." Shadow said, grumbling.

Amy's eyebrows creased at Shadow's frustration as she pecked his jaw several times to loosen the tension in it and even made the cow kiss his face in an effort to make him laugh.

"But you are a p-proper boyfriend." Amy said.

"I just wish I could take you out on a date. I want to watch a movie with you and without being surrounded by prisoners and guards and 10ft stone walls on an island. I want to take you out for dinner at a fancy restaurant where we'd split the bill because I'm unemployed and I can't afford both of our lobsters." Shadow said with a boyish grin but it didn't meet his eyes as he looked genuinely upset he couldn't do all the things he desperately wanted to do.

Amy looked at Shadow, expressing all the love she had through her eyes. Amy wanted everything Shadow said and she definitely wanted a future with him outside of the prison but a part of her knew that it wasn't possible. So without being able to comfort Amy's boyfriend and reassure Shadow with false promises, all she could say was.

"I'm yours. With or without fancy dinners and movie dates, I'm yours. I'm more of a spaghetti person anyway." Amy said.

Shadow closed his eyes at Amy's words and smiled in content. "I love you so fucking much." he said, chuckling deeply as he confessed.

Amy's mouth was wide open in shock along with her eyes. The sentence was over so quickly Amy thought she imagined it. Amy waited for Shadow to register what he said and take it back, or maybe look shocked as well. Only Shadow didn't and continued smiling, probably sensing Amy's thoughts.

Once Amy grasped the fact that someone just said they loved her for the first time in her life, she cried. Amy sobbed and in the midst of her wailing she managed to say.

"I l-love you t-too." Amy said.

"I know." Shadow said.

Shadow grabbed a tissue with his right hand and wiped Amy's snotty nose and her streaming waterfall of tears while she began to feel mortified at what she must look like. Seeing the embarrassment on Amy, Shadow pressed his lips on her quills.

"Don't worry. I still love you even if you look gross right now." Shadow said.

...

3 weeks later.

It was any normal day. Shadow and Amy's stomachs were satiated with the tasteless porridge and almost too ripe fruit. Though Shadow had gotten used to the bland food and just as dull atmosphere, his angel hadn't. Amy asked for sugar in her oats and she received it, whether through Shadow or a kind officer and she asked for more books and they turned a spare room into a mini library.

Everyone who was sane loved Shadow's sweet girl but no one loved Amy as much as he did.

Amy's dainty little body was perched on Shadow's lap as she held the tarnished book in her hands with the next page already between her thin right hand. Amy's head lay lightly over Shadow's chest, directly where his heart was, and her rosy pink quills fanned over his torso with the odd strands being played with through his masculine hands.

Shadow watched Amy's lips move around each word, somehow mesmerized by her voice yet not properly registering the story. Despite the incredibly loud room, Shadow could hear Amy's words clearly, each sounding like a small melodic whisper, as if only they were part of the secret. The room of people paid no attention to Shadow and Amy, knowing what would happen if they were caught staring. Although, Shadow now felt like a hypocrite as he sat gawking at the beauty in front of him.

Amy's lips curled into an adorable smile as she read out loud, what Shadow assumed to be a good part of the book. Amy would laugh when the characters laughed and cry when the characters cried, only to smile at Shadow later and say how it was such a good book, despite the tears. The sound of the bell and multiple guards shouting brought him out of his trance. Shadow frowned at the pouty look on his angel's face as Amy closed the tattered book and hugged it close to her chest.

"What's wrong, my love?" Shadow asked, pulling Amy to him.

Amy looked at Shadow as the innocent jade green eyes he had come to love.

"We didn't get to find out who did it!" Amy said, whining.

When Shadow gave Amy a confused look, she let out a large defeated sigh and banged her head on his chest.

"Did you not pay attention? This has been the best part!" Amy said.

Shadow smiled softly at Amy, something he never did to anyone else.

"You're too distracting." Shadow said, gently grazing Amy's left cheek with the back of his right hand.

Amy felt the skin heat up as she realized the meaning of Shadow's words.

"So beautiful." Shadow said, murmuring.

With Amy there in Shadow's arms and blushing profusely at the simple compliment, he marveled at the fact she was here with him. Because in a room that held the most dangerous men, stood an angel.

...

"Hurry up inmate." a large, orange-brown muscular dingo male with shamrock green eyes officer said ordering as Shadow painted the wall slowly with his right hand.

The smell was making Shadow's migraine worse and the chattering around him was like torture. Shadow's fellow inmates were forced to stay silent whilst the animal prison officers spoke loudly as if they were doing it on purpose to annoy him.

"I'm not doing this any longer." Shadow said in an annoyed huff, having enough of the manual labor.

Though Shadow had control of most of the prison, they were careful to not make the forced favoritism official. If Shadow wasn't doing a job once in a while, it would be too obvious to the authorities and much too noticeable to prison officers that he didn't control.

Shadow had a good thing in Prison Island and it would take weeks, if not months, to build what he already had if he were transferred to a different one. Not to mention, Shadow would rather kill every single person in the building than leave Amy alone with a bunch of convicts, as hypocritical as that seemed.

Shadow's irritable mood only heightened because he was forced to leave his girl in their cell with a runny nose. Shadow suspected Amy had a cold and all he wanted to do was nurse her back to health while smothering her in the kisses she asked him for before he left.

Shadow threw his brush into the bucket of cream-white paint with his right hand, splashing it onto a green squirrel male's prisoner's legs that after seeing the petulant expression Shadow had, grew less angry and more timid as he scurried away to paint his side of the wall.

"What do you think you're doing, inmate?!" Dingo asked yelling, walking over with a much too arrogant face.

This was a dingo guard that made it his mission to make Shadow's life difficult for no reason other than he could.

Dingo was an insecure grown orange-brown dingo male that worked in a prison to assert the power he didn't have in his home life. With a cheating wife, Tess, that paid more attention to the paper boy than to her husband and a child that wants nothing to do with his weak-willed alcoholic father, it was safe to say Dingo had a lot of unresolved anger. "Pick up the damn brush," he barked.

Shadow had to resist spitting on Dingo's worn down face like he visualized himself doing on repeat. Instead Shadow glared at Dingo.

"I'm feeling sick." Shadow said then gave a pathetic fake cough and smiled sarcastically.

"I don't know why the little sugar's with him." Drago said chiming in with a pat on Dingo's back with his right hand as if they were old friends.

Drago and Dingo probably were considering they both hated Shadow with every fiber of their beings.

Dingo rubbed his right hand through his short and spiky blonde hair thoughtfully.

"I agree. I mean, she's so innocent and you're so... not." Dingo said to Shadow, clearly trying to get on his nerves.

Drago let out a sharp laugh, his rotting teeth visible through his grin and his eyes reflecting disturbing and vile thoughts as he was as ugly inside as he was outside.

"Maybe not so innocent under all those clothes. Maybe Amy just needs a real man t-" Drago said but was cut off.

Shadow lunged at the twisted Drago but was stopped by a baton in the stomach, curtesy of Dingo with his right hand. Nevertheless, it didn't stop Shadow from straightening back up and charging back at Drago.

"Don't you fucking dare let her name pass through your fucking lips!" Shadow said, yelling.

"Back off inmate!" Dingo said ordering as he tried to prevent Drago from murdering the smug looking criminal.

However, Dingo was just background noise in Shadow's current fit of rage. Shadow's rational thoughts were clouded by the voice in his head ordering him to kill Drago for even thinking of his angel and as a warning to the crowd of prisoners watching like they were seeing animals in a cage.

Shadow pushed Dingo out of the way and punched Drago in the jaw with his right fist, causing audible winces in the room.

"I'm fucking warning you Drago." Shadow said, growling out.

Drago spat out the blood in his mouth and gave a toothy grin of blood coated teeth, though a glimmer of fear passed through his eyes while he took a cautious step back.

In return, Shadow went to lunge at Drago again, only for the air to be knocked out of him once more due to the baton in the white wolf male's right hand. Other animal guards walked closer with their hands on their own batons, ready to assist their colleague if necessary. Shadow was about to lunge for him again, only to be hit in the left side.

It wasn't necessary though because Shadow didn't fight back. After every fight Shadow got into and every meeting that ended in bruises, he was met with a distraught rosy pink hedgehog girl in tears. Shadow would have to comfort Amy as she sobbed in his arms. Shadow would have to reassure Amy that he wasn't going to die from a few scratches but every time it happened, his biggest punishment was the guilt and disappointment in himself for causing the most innocent beauty all that pain.

Shadow knew Amy deserved better but he just didn't want to prove it.

So Shadow couldn't fight back in fear of getting into more trouble than he was already in. Isolation was inevitable but the amount of time would be much longer if Shadow fought back as much as he wanted to.

_"No. I have to take the punishment if I want to get back to my angel."_ Shadow thought.

Shadow quickly became bruised and heavily battered as Dingo brought the weapon down on him harshly with his right hand and without any sort of hesitation or remorse. A few of the other animal prison officers, the ones that thought fondly of his girlfriend, looked a little sympathetic yet did nothing to stop the embarrassing torture. They just gave Dingo worried glances as the guy beat a man who had already surrendered.

_"This is all for her. This is all for her. She wanted you to stop fighting. You can't protect her if you're in isolation."_ Shadow thought.

"Oi, mate. I think the lad's has enough." a grey ape male with ocean blue eyes police officer said.

No doubt an animal prison officer that finally found his morals. Shadow couldn't tell who it was as his eyes were tightly shut from the agonizing pain coursing through his body.

Dingo's heavy breathing was magnified in the quiet room. Murmurs of judgement increased as animal people got over their shock, whether at Dingo for his ruthlessness or at Shadow for his weakness he didn't know.

"2 nights in isolation." Dingo said barking, wiping the blood off the baton with his left hand.

"Take him to the nurse." Dingo said muttering then walked away angrily.

...

10 minutes later.

Shadow held back a wince when Rouge dabbed the alcohol soaked cotton bud on his wounded face with her left hand. Rouge leaned far closer than she needed to which caused Shadow to inch himself away from her chest in slight disgust. Rouge reeked of desperation along with a strong scented perfume that she obviously over sprayed in an attempt to seem more attractive than she was.

The moment Shadow stepped in the room, Rouge adjusted her appearance, blushing bashfully as she took in his presence and was a little too eager to help him onto the table. Rouge excused herself briefly and came back with an overpowering scent and pinker lips.

Immediately, Shadow felt uncomfortable with Rouge's obvious crush on him but focused on Amy waiting for him back in their cell with no idea what had happened and decided to just get the visit over and done with.

"I've not seen you in a while, Shadow. Not gotten in fights?" Rouge asked.

Shadow hummed in response to Rouge's small talk but then cringed as she held his face closer to her with both hands.

"I erm missed you." Rouge said gave a nervous giggle that made Shadow feel awkward. The hearts in Rouge's eyes were painful to look at.

"That's... weird." Shadow said.

Rouge didn't hear Shadow or at least pretended she didn't. "I need you to take off your shirt please." she said.

Shadow rolled his eyes at Rouge but did as she said in the most casual way possible as to not send any wrong messages. Clearly, it didn't work as Rouge bit her lip and widened her eyes at Shadow's abs in a not so subtle way.

"I-I'm going to touch your side." Rouge said and placed sweaty hands on Shadow's bruised left side.

Shadow only grunted in response before flinching as Rouge checked him for broken bones.

"Amy told me you share the same cell." Rouge said.

Mentioning his angel just reminded Shadow of how jealous Amy got when Rouge gave her the wrong idea of their relationship. It made Shadow smile a little but at the same time grew more annoyed at Rouge in front of him.

Shadow glared coldly at Rouge. "Don't talk about her." he said, snapping.

"Why? She's just a girl. I hope you're not too hard on her." Rouge questioned.

_"What is this woman talking about?"_ Shadow thought.

"I know you're not as bad as people think you are." Rouge said, not noticing the weird look Shadow was giving her. "I-I can see that y'know."

"Fucking psychopath." Shadow said, muttering under his breath.

"We've known each other for so long and I feel like we understand each other more than anyone." Rouge said.

Shadow didn't know whether or not to tell Rouge that he didn't know her name but he didn't have time to contemplate it as he suddenly felt her left hand graze his bare chest in a seductive manner, causing him to jump and smack her left hand away from him with restrained force of his right hand.

Rouge looked shocked at Shadow's reaction. "I-I know y-you care about me, Shadow. You're nicer to me than you are to all the other officers." she said, stuttering.

Shadow mentally agreed that he tolerated Rouge more than the others, only because he didn't hit women. Although, Rouge was slowly testing Shadow's morals.

"You're delusional. I don't even know your name." Shadow said.

Rouge frowned with a hurt look but shook her head. "No. You opened up to me when you felt depressed and lonely. We understand each other because I lost both of my parents too." she said.

Shadow remembered that time and that was at a particular low point of his life as it was the one year anniversary of his family's murder and the first year in prison was the hardest year of all. It was the one time Shadow was high and just blurted out a few sentences about himself to no one in particular and it just so happened that it was Rouge.

Shadow never talked to anyone about the murders to the extent he did with Amy.

"I never flirted with you though!" Shadow said.

"Because you respected me and my job and I admire you for that so much. I know that if I meant nothing to you, you would've tried to sleep with me." Rouge said.

Shadow was frustrated and felt a little guilty that Rouge was so far from the truth and he pitied the fact that she took these small details and blew them up to something much bigger in her head.

"Nurse." Shadow said slowly. "You're delusional. I don't like you... at all actually. I have a girlfriend."

_"I have my Amy."_ Shadow thought.

Shadow moved back as Rouge took a step forward and then suddenly placed her left hand on his right leg with a tight grip.

"You don't need to lie to me. I know you're worried about people finding out about us but I'll risk it for you. I know they call you the 'Black Wind' but to me you're nothing like it. You're not. I don't care that you've done bad things Shadow because I like you." Rouge said smiling what she must've believed was a reassuring smile while looking slightly shy at her confession. "I know you like me too."

Shadow gave Rouge an incredulous look as he was so distracted by her stupidity that he didn't even see her left hand lift up until it landed on his crotch.

"What the fuck?!" Shadow asked shouting and pushed Rouge back harshly with both hands, causing her to hit the corner of her desk with a thud.

Shadow, however, wasn't concerned with the pained yet stunned expression Rouge had because he was busy trying to process what had happened. Shadow shivered as he recalled Rouge's touch and gave her a look of utter disgust.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing, you fucking nutjob?!" Shadow asked, angrily.

Rouge backed away as Shadow stepped towards her threateningly with his hands clenched by his sides. Shadow didn't want to hit Rouge but he was so tempted to and he tried to breathe and calm himself so he wouldn't do anything he would regret but all he could think about was someone's hands on him that didn't belong to his angel's.

"Rouge? Is everything okay?" a young tan kangaroo male with grape purple eyes prison officer asked when he walked in, curiously looking around the room and then at Shadow with narrowed eyes.

"Y-yes. Yes. Everything is fine." Rouge said.

Shadow wondered if Rouge said that to protect him from further punishment or because she knew he could report her for sexual assault. Although, it wasn't like anybody would believe Shadow so he settled for the former.

"You can take him away now, Robby." Rouge said with an unconvincing smile.

Luckily, Robby didn't take any notice and only cuffed Shadow's hands to drag him away to isolation.

In 2 days, Shadow would have to explain to Amy not only why he was in isolation, but also the fact that another woman touched him in the place reserved only for her. Shadow couldn't help but feel insecure and wonder if this was the last straw, the breaking point where she'd have enough of all the trouble that came with him.

Shadow wondered if this would be the point Amy would leave him and now he had two whole nights to think about it.

...

2 Days later.

Morning.

The 2 nights without Shadow were miserable. Amy realized she was much more in love with Shadow than she thought she was or ever expected to be.

Despite Bark telling Amy what had happened to get him into isolation, she still felt completely clueless about the whole situation. Amy didn't know what it was like, how Shadow was being treated and if he was okay with the battering the prison officer gave him.

Amy's stomach churned at the thought of Shadow rotting in a cold empty prison cell with only his own pee to drink.

A part of Amy had forgotten how temperamental Shadow was. Shadow was calm and collected, moody and silent, and most importantly he contained his urge for brutal fist fights in front of Amy.

Rather than being scared or put off by Shadow's violent behavior, a behavior Amy was in no way exposed to before meeting him, she just felt worried. It didn't make Amy's love Shadow any less and in a strange way she felt protective for the man that could easily protect himself.

"Please be okay, please be okay, please be okay." Amy said muttering quietly to herself like a mantra, pacing around the room anxiously as her dainty fingers twisted together in a nervous habit.

Amy closed her eyes tightly in hopes of making the flashing images of all the worst possible scenarios disappear from her mind then she heard the sudden jingle of keys hitting each other as they swung, accompanied by loud echoing steps. Amy jolted at the sound and ran to the metal bars, nearly tripping over her own 2 feet in her hurry.

Shadow was looking down at his dirty, white trainers, clearly avoiding Amy's eyes as she gasped loudly at the sight of him. Despite his efforts to hide his face from her, Amy could see the bruises painting Shadow's face with a painful looking brown, green, and purple.

Amy dreaded to see the full extent to Shadow's injuries when just a glimpse caused tears. Nevertheless, it didn't stop Amy from reaching out to touch him through the metal bars.

"Mind your hands, Amy." Shadow said, his hands jumping back as the voice startled Amy.

Too focused on her boyfriend, Amy didn't notice Bark was standing behind Shadow with a solemn looking expression.

"Open at 101." Bark said through his walkie talkie in his right hand.

The cell doors opened promptly afterwards, while Shadow still hadn't looked up from his worn out shoes.

"Shadow? Are you okay? I-Is he going to be okay?" Amy asked with wide eyes to Bark and Shadow.

Shadow had his hands in front of him, both wrists restrained in metal handcuffs and he walked into the cell while blatantly ignoring her question. Regardless of his injuries, he held no limp and kept his usual stance strong and proud or he at least tried to. Amy could see something was bothering Shadow as he ground his teeth together and kept his fists clenched.

"He's going to be fine. Rouge checked him out and said rest is all he needs. No more fights would help." Bark said with a pointed look at Shadow before unlocking the restraints from him.

But Shadow ignored Bark and as soon as the cuffs were off, he walked past Amy and practically threw himself on the bed with an exhausted sigh and his head barely missing the metal frames.

Amy looked at her boyfriend in confusion but turned to Bark that was already leaving.

"Bye Bark." Amy said quietly with a slight wave with her left hand.

Bark responded with a nod before leaving Shadow and Amy with the cell doors closing behind him.

Tentatively, the more than bewildered rosy pink hedgehog girl began to approach Shadow but in the end, the panic Amy was trying, and failing, to hide escaped and she ran to his side.

Even when Amy climbed over Shadow and planted her bottom on his stomach and her hands on his muzzle, he didn't open his eyes.

"Shadow. Shads. Shadow. Are you asleep?" Amy asked whispering, though she knew Shadow wasn't from his tensed muscles. "Answer me." dragging out, patting his muzzle lightly with both hands.

Shadow let out a heavy, exaggerated sigh. "What do you want?" he asked, grumbling.

Amy frowned and removed her tiny hands from Shadow's face, placing them on his chest instead as she tried to hide her hurt at his cold demeanor.

"I-I just wanted to know if you're okay. What happened?" Amy asked.

"I'm fine Angel. You heard Bark... I just need to stay out of fights." Shadow said, a whisper of anger in his voice.

Shadow sounded more exhausted then anything.

Amy shook her head with certainty.

"No, it wasn't your fault. I heard rumors in the break room. I know what happened." Amy said.

Well, Amy didn't learn about Shadow defending her honor from the rumors. Amy really doubted Shadow turned into a real life hulk and flipped tables onto the prison officers for just looking in his direction. Green skin and everything apparently. Yeah, it was extremely unlikely.

Knuckles and Mighty were also sick of the rumors so they, not so nicely, asked an animal prisoner what had happened and he stopped boasting about how he survived a blood thirsty Shadow and instead told them about the prison officers provoking him into fighting back and brutal beating.

The animal male prisoner even looked a bit sorry for Shadow he was calling a monster just a few moments ago.

From what Knuckles, Mighty and the rest of the prison said about him, Amy knew that Shadow had held back immensely from the mere fact that the animal prisoner officers were still alive. Although, now Amy wasn't sure how much of it was actually rumors and gossip and how much of it was true.

Shadow just kept his face neutral and his eyes closed. "Amy, I'm really tired." he said signalling the end of his and Amy's short conversation.

Amy concluded that something terrible must've happened. "My poor defenseless little Shads!" she said, gasping. "Are you traumatized?!" blurting.

"Amy." Shadow said.

Shadow's exasperated and slightly scolding tone told Amy, she wouldn't get any more out of him so she gave up and climbed off him to settle herself next to him, feeling moisture build up in her eyes when he didn't make a mood to cuddle her to him.

It felt extremely abnormal to have Amy's arms laying stiffly beside her sides and for Shadow to be the same.

After a few more unbearable minutes, Amy sniffled and then unable to take anymore torture, she gently yet hurriedly lifted Shadow's right arm to bury her face into the side of his chest. Amy inhaled Shadow's unique and addictive smell, feeling a little more at ease.

Amy thought Shadow was going to push her away the way he was acting as he sucked in a breath and his tensed muscles stiffened further. But to her surprise, his body relaxed completely before holding her closer to place a long gentle kiss on the crown of her head.

...

3 hours later.

People stared at Shadow and Amy as they walked out of their cell and they stared at them when they walked into the cafeteria, as they ate and when they went to the common room.

Everyone noticed the shift in atmosphere. How could they not when Shadow's face was a picture of annoyance and anger and Amy didn't know why he was so angry but she knew it was directed at everyone. Shadow stared at everything with a glare. Though every person was staring, no one would stare long enough to catch Shadow's gaze at risk of making him finally snap.

This wasn't the same Shadow from 2 nights ago. That Shadow looked almost happy, even surrounded by hardcore criminals that feared him. Shadow was laid back and extremely affectionate to Amy.

Now Shadow walked beside Amy on the right side, barely touching save from tightly holding her right hand. Though this seemed to purely be so that Amy wouldn't be lost in the throngs of people and she had to hold back a painful whimper from the Shadow's grip. The fact that Amy had to do so hurt more than the right hand itself.

"Shadow?" Amy asked once she and Shadow reached their spot in the common room.

Amy's right hand flexed subtly by her right side as soon as he let go to flop on the run down couch.

Shadow grunted in response, picking a book out with his right hand and lazily flicked through the pages with no intention on reading it.

"What's wrong?" Amy asked softly, almost fearfully as she didn't want to poke the angry hedgehog.

"Nothing." Shadow said.

The worried Amy sighed when she sat next to her boyfriend only for Shadow to noticeably shift his wait away from her. Knuckles and Mighty looked visibly awkward as they watched.

_"It's not you. It's not you. You didn't do anything wrong. I will not give up on him."_ Amy thought.

"Are you in pain? Maybe you should see the nurse." Amy asked.

"Fuck that bitch. I'm fine Amy. Will you stop worrying." Shadow said.

Everyone around them jumped at Shadow's raised voice. Amy's eyebrows crinkled in hurt and confusion while she looked down at her hands and she reached for a book with shaky hands to avoid looking at Shadow.

"What the fuck man? You don't need to shout at her. What's the matter with you?" Mighty asked with suppressed anger.

Shadow looked at Mighty heatedly and said through clenched teeth. "You're going to want to mind your own business Knuckles." he said.

"L-leave him alone. You're scaring Amy." Tails said, suddenly appearing behind them and made his opinion known, much to Shadow's increasing temper.

Tails' hands were shaking and he was looking at his feet the whole time but an angry expression was surprisingly adorned on his face.

Amy's heart warmed that her ex-cellmate was defending her.

"What's she got to do with you? I dare you to repeat that you little shit!" Shadow questioned.

"No, you repeat that!" Amy said standing in front of Shadow and poked his tensed chest with her left index finger, glaring as harshly as she could into his more than shocked eyes. "Listen here buddy. I have had enough of this angry angry that you've got going on. I'm not having any more mister. So you better tell me what's wrong or you'll face my wrath!"

_"Face my wrath?! Oh my gosh, I've been hidden from society too long. That's so embarrassing."_ Amy thought.

"Shit. You've made Amy mad." Knuckles said cackling loudly, breaking the deafening silence in the room.

It only deepened the rosy blush on Amy's cheeks.

Shadow ignored Knuckles but snapped out of his shocked expression and he grabbed Amy's left hand, more softly this time and leaned down to say quietly in her left ear.

"Come with me." Shadow said, whispering.

Amy followed Shadow into the empty corridor, lips slightly pouting, eyes slightly narrowed. "What?" she asked, bluntly.

"Hey. Stop with the attitude little missy. Where's my angel gone huh?" Shadow asked, tapping Amy's chin with his right index finger while his left thumb was tenderly rubbing the back of her right hand.

Unsurprisingly, Amy had to resist a smile from escaping. Being stubborn, Amy tried her hardest to keep a straight face, causing her mouth to twitch in a way that couldn't stop Shadow from laughing at her.

"Fuck, you're such a weirdo." Shadow said.

The warmth in Shadow's voice as he looked at Amy was a feeling she couldn't describe and she couldn't believe how this man could make her feel so many different emotions in a span of a few minutes.

"If you distract me, I'm not going to be able tell you why I'm being angry angry." Shadow said with air quotes as he repeated Amy's words.

"I'm not even doing anything," Amy said complaining, exasperating.

Amy blushed when Shadow's eyes dropped to her pouted lips.

"You're just so distracting." Shadow said almost huskily.

Just when Amy thought Shadow was going to kiss her, he leaned back and started talking. Though Amy was admittedly disappointed, she was glad to finally know what was troubling Shadow so much.

"You were right. The whole situation wasn't my fault. The stupid pr-." Shadow said then cut himself and paused to re-think his words. "Men just wanted to pick a fight."

"Oh Shadow, I'm sorry. That's terrible. You should tell the Governor." Amy said, suggesting in concern.

Shadow shook his head. "No he won't be able to do anything. There's no such thing as a completely innocent cop here. Well, apart from Bark. He's alright." he said.

"So, it really was the prison officers?"

"It was just a lot of bad things piled together Amy but yes, they are the ones that got me into isolation. Some guys were trying to start something too, mentioning your name to rile me up. It worked but I really did try Angel." Shadow said.

"Try what?" Amy asked, wrapping her arms around Shadow's torso and rested her face on his chest, comforting both herself and him.

"Try to be good for you." Shadow said quietly, causing Amy to smile into his chest. "Never fudging works. I should realize that I'll never be the good guy."

Before Amy could respond with a strong defense for her boyfriend against himself, Shadow carried on.

"Anyway, I had to be checked by that nurse. That's why I'm in this... mood. That nurse said she liked me. In fact, she would we liked each other." Shadow said.

"Do you?! Did you cheat on me? Is this what this is?" Amy asked, shocked.

Mortified, Amy tried to pull away but Shadow wouldn't let her and just held her tighter, rubbing his hands up and down her back in a soothing manner.

"No! No. Of course not Angel. You know I'd never do that to you." Shadow said.

"I know." Amy said, whispering.

Amy did know but the fear of losing Shadow was always overpowering her logical reasoning.

"She made a move on me." Shadow said giving a sharp dark laugh. "Fucking molested me, more like." even more disgusted.

Amy gasped as her immediate reaction was to bury her face in Shadow's chest. With all the emotions she had experienced for the past few days, combined with them being heightened from her period, Amy just couldn't help bursting into tears.

"Shhh. Angel I'm okay. I'm fine. Why are you crying? I'm sorry." Shadow asked.

"Y-you shouldn't be saying s-sorry. I'm crying because you're obviously must be t-t-traumatized." Amy said.

"I promise I'm okay. I was just worried about what you would think. Would you be angry she touched me? Angry I got myself into this situation? Angry I'm causing fights? I don't know what was going on in my head but there was a lot of things. I'm not traumatized believe me." Shadow asked assuring Amy, still rubbing her back with his right hand as her crying settled to a stop.

"I-I'm not angry. I'm just glad you're okay Shads." Amy said whispering with a small kiss on Shadow's tear soaked sweatshirt. "You should definitely tell the Governor about Rouge."

"It's nothing compared to the abuse she probably gets daily. There's no point, she's not going to do it again. I feel bad for her honestly. Delusional woman." Shadow said.

"It doesn't mean its okay." Amy said pursing her lips but dropped it since she knew Shadow wouldn't change his opinion. "I missed you."

Shadow kissed the crown of Amy's head. "I missed you so so much." he said into Amy's quills. "Now give me a damn kiss, love."

Amy giggled, smiling against Shadow's lips as he kissed her, assuring her everything was going to be okay.

* * *

End of Chapter 4.

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